George Foreman, Director of the New Columbian Brass Band, is a nationally recognized authority of American band history and the music of the Golden Age of American Bands. He has lectured on band history related topics and conducted historic band concerts in more than a dozen states and Canada; In founding the New Columbian Brass Band with cornetist Vincent DiMartino, Foreman is dedicated to preserving the authentic American band music of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and introducing this music to new audiences through performances with outstanding professional players.

Foreman is also founder and former director of the Advocate Brass Band in Danville, Kentucky. The response to this recreation of a turn-of-the-century ``town'' band led to the establishment of the Great American Brass Band Festival in 1990. This three day festival draws more than 40,000 people annually to the campus of Centre College in Danville for free outdoor concerts by ``brass bands'' all kinds, from civil war bands performing on period instruments to New Orleans funeral bands such as the Olympia Brass Band to the Canadian Brass.

Foreman received his Ph.D. in musicology from the University of Kansas, and is an active researcher on American band history. He has written and lectured on many band related subjects, including the American town band movement, John Philip Sousa, and the virtuoso cornet solo, The Carnival of Venice. He is currently at work on a book on C.L. Barnhouse an important figure in American band history who gained fame as a publisher of band music, composer, bandmaster, and cornet soloist.

In addition to his work in the band history field, Foreman pursues his ``day job'' as an arts administrator. He is Managing Director of the Norton Center for the Arts on the campus of Centre College. This major regional arts center presents performances ranging from symphony orchestras and classical soloists to broadway shows and popular artists. Recent performances have included Mikhail Baryshnikov, Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music, Doc Severinsen, and the Tony Award winning play Lost in Yonkers.

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