Allentown Band Places 2nd in American Prize Competition

 We are very proud and pleased to learn that The Allentown Band placed 2nd in the 2021 National American Prize in the Community Band Division.

CONGRATULATIONS to Gerald Gilbeaux and the Acadian Wind Symphony on winning this prestigious honor this year.

More on The American Prize

The American Prize in Band/Wind Ensemble Performance—community division, 2021

The American Prize winner:

Gerald Guilbeaux   

Acadian Wind Symphony   

Lafayette    LA

Acadian Wind Symphony

The Acadian Wind Symphony was founded by conductor, Gerald Guilbeaux during the summer of 1994 with a special invitation to professional and amateur wind and percussion players from the South Louisiana. The Ensemble is a collection of some of Acadiana’s top instrumentalists dedicated to the performance of traditional and contemporary masterworks for band. It provides an opportunity for serious wind players and percussionists from the Lafayette area to share in the highest level of musical expression and artistry. Many of the members perform professionally with the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra, while others have performed in various other collegiate, amateur and professional ensembles throughout the state of Louisiana. Though many of the members are professional musicians and/or music educators, many other walks of life are represented within the ranks of the organization.

The American Prize 2nd Place:

Ronald Demkee

The Allentown Band

Allentown    PA  

The Allentown Band

All members of the Allentown Band approach their music-making in a professional manner, though none makes his or her living from music performance alone. Many, however, are teachers of music in schools and in private studios. Some teach a variety of subjects unrelated to music. Others are engaged in engineering, accounting, sales, insurance, medicine and dentistry, or in various office work or building trades. When they meet to perform, however, whether in a public park setting, retirement community, or in Carnegie Hall, both age and daytime vocation disappear. All effort is concentrated, striving for integrity, inspiration and impact whether performing an overture transcribed from opera, a modern composition written especially for concert band, or a Sousa march.

The American Prize 3rd Place:

Kenneth Singleton

Boulder Concert Band    

Boulder. CO

Boulder Concert Band

Although the COVID19 pandemic stalled its 43rd season, the Boulder Concert Band will play on. During the 1918 flu epidemic, Boulder’s community band, then called the Boulder Citizen’s Band, may have taken a break like us. But the band eventually played on, conducted by Bill Swarts, director, 1899-1919. The first records of a performing band in the city of Boulder date back to 1870. Several decades later, the Boulder Municipal Band was formed and was the first to include women musicians. Today's Boulder Concert Band was reorganized in 1976 by the late Hugh McMillen, former Director of Bands at the University of Colorado. Now directed by Dr. Kenneth Singleton, the current organization has more than 60 volunteer musicians. Its members are drawn from the business, professional, and educational communities in the Boulder County and Denver metro area.