Colby-Sawyer and Kearsarge Community Band Announce Collaboration

Increasing musical opportunities for students and area residents

June 11, 2014 • Saved under Other schools
Press release

This month Colby-Sawyer College and the Kearsarge Community Band signed an agreement, effective January 2015, which will expand the musical and performance opportunities available to Colby-Sawyer student musicians and area residents.

“We are pleased and excited to be working with the Kearsarge Community Band,” said Colby-Sawyer President Thomas C. Galligan Jr. “This provides an academic and creative outlet for our students who play a musical instrument and can be part of this wonderful institution in our community and earn credit for their work.”

The two institutions will remain autonomous under the agreement, working under their own by-laws and governing bodies. The Kearsarge Community Band is a non-profit community organization committed to providing a wide range of music while offering members an opportunity to express their talents. The Band performs a broad repertoire that includes Sousa and concert marches, show tunes, classical transcriptions, big band swing music, traditional band music, and contemporary compositions. The Kearsarge Community Band is under the musical direction of P. Aarne Vesilind, PhD.

Dr. Vesilind was on the faculty at Duke University and while on sabbatical played with bands all over the world, including in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Estonia. After retiring from Duke, he joined the faculty at Bucknell University. He considers a euphonium solo in Gustav Holst’s Mars from The Planets with the Bucknell Symphony Orchestra to be the high point of his performance career. He moved to New London in 2006.

With the agreement, Dr. Vesilind will also assume the position of adjunct professor at the college. All Colby-Sawyer students will be welcome to join the Band and will receive academic credit. Students who participate for two semesters will be recognized as Kearsarge Community Band Honors Musicians.

Colby-Sawyer supports music education with courses that offer credit for instruction in voice, piano, and other instruments, as well as music appreciation. Students may audition to join the Kearsarge Chorale for credit, and any student may participate in the Colby-Sawyer Singers.

Those interested in joining the Band may contact the director at KearsargeCommunityBand.org/contact-our-musical-director/.