French conductor, composer Jullien is featured part 
of history conference

By JENNIFER BRUMMETT
and EMILY TOADVINE
Staff Writers

Colorful figures in band history are featured in Friday's Conference on American Band History.
One highlight of the day-long event is an update on "The Jullien Project," which will focus on Louis Antoine Jullien. The presenters for that segment are festival organizer George Foreman, John Graziano of City University of New York, and John Laverty of Syracuse University.
Program chairman Frank Cipolla, professor emeritus of the State University of New York-Buffalo, says Jullien was a splashy personality in 19th-century band history.
"(He) was a flamboyant conductor-composer who came to the United States in 1853 for a nine-month tour and presented concerts in New York and Boston," Cipolla explains. "A great deal of mysticism surrounded his life, and his personality can best be described as being in the mold of P.T. Barnum. 
"His concerts usually involved very large instrumental forces and were presented with a grandiose flair. Jullien composed both orchestral and band music, which was published by his own company in London."
Foreman says the Frenchman is credited with originating the promenade concerts in London, which continue to this day. He also has an interesting name history, he notes.
"He had about 38 first names because he is named after the members of a Swiss philharmonic society, where his parents stopped for his birth," Foreman explains.
Jullien was one of the first major European stars to come to the United States, he says. He started publishing a band journal in 1844, which featured some of the earliest printed band music. Foreman spent a week in London and got copies of the pieces, which The New Columbian Wind Band is recording about a week before the festival.
Cipolla says Foreman has secured much of Jullien's music and is planning a mini-Jullien festival as part of the Great American Brass Band Festival in 2003. Foreman, Graziano and Laverty will discuss Jullien's influence on band music and preliminary plans for next year's presentation, he adds.
A special Jullien-inspired concert will be held 1 p.m. Saturday in Newlin Hall. 

Across the ocean
This year's Conference on American Band History theme is "European Connections." 
"We will have papers on musicians from Europe who had a great influence on the development of band music in this country," Cipolla says of how the theme will be reflected in the conference.
"To begin the conference, I will present a paper on the Irish-American bandmaster Patrick Gilmore, the most widely known and most influential American bandmaster prior to John Philip Sousa. Gilmore achieved international recognition through the two gigantic music festivals he presented in Boston in 1869 and 1872, which utilized a chorus in access of 10,000 voices, an instrumental group of over 2,000, a huge organ, and the ringing of church bells and firing of military artillery to coincide with the music."
Next on the conference schedule is Raoul Camus, professor emeritus of the City University of New York, who will discuss Carlo Cappa and Claudio Grafulla. They were two bandmasters connected with the prestigious Seventh Regiment of New York, Cipolla says. 
"Grafulla came to the United States in 1838 and distinguished himself as a composer of band music and as a leader of the Seventh Regiment Band from 1860 to 1880," he explains. "Cappa came to the U.S. from Italy. He also composed some band pieces, but was primarily known as an outstanding trombone and euphonium player. He conducted the Seventh Regiment Band from 1882 until his death in 1893."
The last paper of the morning will be presented by Foreman and will highlight the career of the phenomenal trombonist Frederick Innes. 
"Innes was from England and in the early 1880s he was soloist with the Gilmore Band," Cipolla notes. "He later conducted a band under his own name. 
"The morning session will end with the Advocate Brass Band performing music of each of these persons."
The afternoon begins with a talk by Sousa scholar Paul Bierley, who is discussing the European tours of the Sousa Band plus other highlights of this most famous American bandmaster. His talk will be followed by the United States Marine Band Brass Quintet performing music appropriate to the era. This performance will be followed by The Jullien Project update and a performance by The Munich Trumpet Ensemble of Munich, Germany.
Registration for the Conference on American Band History is $35, which includes all conference materials and presentations, lunch, and refreshments in the morning and afternoon. Early registration is recommended.
For more information, call Debra F. Hoskins at the Norton Center for the Arts, (859) 236-4692.