Submitted Photo The New Horizons Band of Western New York will present their spring concert at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday in King Concert Hall on the SUNY Fredonia campus.

The New Horizons Band of Western New York will present their Spring Concert at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 30. The free concert will be held in the Harry A. King Concert Hall on the SUNY Fredonia Campus.

Dr. Katherine M. Levy, conductor, will start the concert with “Star Spangled Banner,” harmonized by John Stafford Smith and arranged by Jack Stamp. Next on the program is “On the American River” by Alan Lee Silva and conducted by Karen Boyd. Dr. Levy will return to the podium to conduct “The Walking Frog” by Karl L. King and arranged by Robert E. Foster followed by “Wild Dance” by Douglas Akey.

“Country Renaissance Dances” by Tielman Susato and arranged by Katheryn Fenske will be conducted by David Golando. Followed by “Ammerland” by Jacob de Haan and conducted by Dr. Levy. Donald Keddie, conductor, will close out the first half with “Make Our Garden Grow” by Leonard Bernstein and arranged by Clare Grundman and Selections from “West Side Story” by Leonard Bernstein and arranged by W. J. Duthoit.

After intermission, the New Horizons Jazz Band under the direction of David Golando and Student Assistants Will Jenney and Samantha Zimmerman will perform “The Heaviness of Blue” by Al Cobine; “I Want to Hold Your Hand” by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and arranged by John Berry; and “Skyfall” by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth and arranged by Roger Holmes.

The full band will return to the stage to start the second half of the program with Pauline Emilson conducting “Twelfth Street Rag” by Euday Bowman and arranged by Lloyd Conley. Conductor John Krestic will step onto the podium to lead the band in “Heaven’s Light” by Steven Reinecke. Dr. Levy will finish the concert with “8th Street Bowery Blues” by Jeremy Bell; “Mission Impossible Theme” by Lalo Schifrin and arranged by Paul Murtha; and Selections from the movie “Fame” by Michael Gore and Dean Pitchford and arranged by Bob Lowden.

Members of The New Horizons Band of Western New York live in the following communities: Angola, Bradford (PA), Brocton, Cassadaga, Collins, Derby, Dunkirk, Forestville, Fredonia, Gerry, Gowanda, Hamburg, Jamestown, Irving, Lakewood, Lily Dale, Mayville, Portland, Ripley, Sheridan, Silver Creek, Sinclairville, South Dayton, and Westfield.

The band, under the direction of Levy, was launched by the SUNY Fredonia School of Music 14 years ago, and is living proof that, when it comes to learning to play a musical instrument, it truly is “never too late.” New Horizons Band members, who are at least 50 years old, learn to play a band instrument, return to playing a band instrument after a long absence, or continue to improve playing an instrument they have long enjoyed.

The band program includes two weekly group lessons on an instrument and two weekly band rehearsals at SUNY Fredonia’s Mason Hall. The band has an enrollment of more than 60 musicians. The average band member age is 65. Band member ages range from the early 50s to the early 80s.

By popular demand, special New Horizons Band-Only sessions are held during the months of January and July. No lessons are offered during the special sessions.

Dr. Levy, an Associate Professor of Music Education and head of the music education area at SUNY Fredonia, conducts the band. Advanced music education students in the School of Music provide group lesson instruction. Levy was introduced to New Horizons in 1995 when she became the brass instructor for one of the first New Horizons Bands in Iowa City, Iowa. She has conducted New Horizons Bands in Iowa and Georgia, and she founded a New Horizons Band in Hagerstown, Maryland.

“Music making is just too much fun to leave only to younger folks,” Levy said. “Almost anyone can enjoy learning to play a musical instrument when good instruction, a friendly environment, and lots of helping hands are available.”

The NHBWNY will rehearse Mondays and Wednesdays from 3 to 4:30 p.m. from late June throughout July, 2019, at Fredonia’s School of Music. Former players wishing to “reacquaint” themselves with their instruments can join at any time, and novices should join in the fall 2019 term, which will begin in August, 2019. A small tuition fee covers the cost of instruction and music. No previous background in music or on an instrument is necessary to join. Members can testify that it is possible to learn to play an instrument as a senior adult!

The band will be performing Saturday, July 6, from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Farmers’ Market in Barker Commons in Fredonia and 7 p.m. at Van Buren Point; Thursday, July 18, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at the Chautauqua County Fairgrounds in Dunkirk; Thursday, July 25, 6:30 p.m. at Ryckman Park in Brocton; and Wednesday, July 31, 6:30 p.m. at Barker Commons in Fredonia.

The New Horizons Band of Western New York (NHBWNY) is part of the Musical Journeys Program, a community outreach project offered in the Fredonia School of Music.

More information about New Horizons music efforts and the New Horizons Band of Western New York is available online at www.fredonia.edu/music/community/newhorizons.asp or by contacting Janet Stout at 549-3386 or emailing her at djstout9@verizon.net. Information about the International New Horizons project is available at www.newhorizonsmusic.org