Directors picked for Advocate Brass Band

By BRENDA S. EDWARDS
brenda@amnews.com

Two longtime professional musicians have been named co-directors of The Advocate Brass Band.

Vince DiMartino, distinguished artist in residence at Centre College, and Earl Louder, professor emeritus (euphonium/tuba) at Morehead State University and freelance euphoniumist, will lead the band.

"We're excited that two extremely talented longtime band members will be taking over the leadership of The Advocate Brass Band," said Scott Schurz Jr., publisher at The Advocate-Messenger. "I know Earl and Vince will do a great job."

The new co-directors replace George Foreman, who had directed the band since its inception in 1987 until August when he resigned.

DiMartino, a trumpeter, and Louder, who plays the euphonium with the local Brass Band and various other bands, will soon be working on a spring schedule for the local concerts.

They will plan pieces for Danville's Great American Brass Band Festival in June and may have concerts in neighboring towns, said DiMartino, who is on sabbatical at Centre.

Louder is currently ending a tour with the New Sousa Band.

"We're both busy," said DiMartino, who is currently teaching and playing in Michigan.

Planning for the next season will probably begin during the Christmas holidays.

"We want to do different things with the band in conjunction with Centre," he said. "We're also recruiting high school students and other townspeople for the band. We want to serve the community as best we can."

Since it was organized nearly 20 years ago, The Advocate Brass Band has produced six CDs of band marches and has played hundreds of concerts on the local, state, national and international levels.

Its members range in age from 14 to more than 80 years and represent Danville and surrounding communities and numerous other counties in Kentucky.

The band also is host to the Great American Brass Band Festival, a three-day event each June.

The Advocate Brass Band was established in 1987 under the sponsorship of The Advocate-Messenger as a re-creation of a turn-of-the century town band.

The band employs the instrumentation of the period to perform the music of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the era known as the "Golden Age of American Bands."

Copyright  The Advocate-Messenger 2006
This article was published in the Dec. 6, 2006 Advocate-Messenger. 

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