Touro Park Summer Concert Series – The American Band

The final concert of our summer season features a band that has been performing in Newport since the late 1830s!
We welcome the American Band of Providence, RI, under the direction of Dr. Brian Cardany to Touro Park on July 23!

This concert is free! Bring your blanket and chairs and enjoy a fun afternoon of music! The music starts at 3:00pm.

One of the nation’s oldest continuing adult community concert bands, The American Band is celebrating its 185^th season.  With its distinguishing musical performances, The American Band enriches the cultural life of Southern New England while providing an opportunity for adults to perform distinctive concert band music and maintaining the early traditions of concert bands in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.  The American Band performs eleven months a year with a typical concert season consisting of approximately twelve performances.  Its schedule includes formal concerts of traditional and contemporary wind literature and informal outdoor concerts throughout the region.  The American Band is made up of approximately sixty adult musicians from all walks of life, many holding degrees in music.  The band has performed at the Hatch Shell “On the Esplanade,” the Providence Performing Arts Center, the Zeiterion Theater, and at conferences for both MENC (now the National Association for Music Education) and the New England College Band Directors Association. 

Dr. Brian Cardany is the Director of Bands at the University of Rhode Island where leads the entire band program, serving as conductor for the Wind Ensemble and Concert Band and director of the athletic bands.  His efforts to promote new music and works of artistic merit has included a presentation at the Midwest Clinic, several contributions to the Teaching Music Through Performance series (GIA Publications), and regular involvement with commissions and the recording of new works.  A commission he led for the occasion of the 180th anniversary of The American Band resulted in the creation of Curtain Raiser, the first wind band work by established orchestral composer Peter Boyer, who has since been commissioned the U. S. Marine Band on multiple occasions, has had his band music performed for a presidential inauguration, and has had transcriptions of his band music (including Curtain Raiser) included on a recording performed by the London Symphony Orchestra.  An avid supporter of life-long music making, Dr. Cardany serves as conductor for four Rhode Island community ensembles, including The American Band, the Ocean State Pops Orchestra, the South County Chamber Orchestra, and the South Kingstown Community String Orchestra. 

Read more about The American Band here.

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