2009 Summer Pops Concert - Rhapsody In Blue (excerpt)

Col. William Baldwin, former conductor of the United States Army Band, leads the Callanwolde Concert Band in a performance of his own arrangement of Geroge Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue' at Alpharetta First United Methodist Church in Alpharetta, GA on July 15, 2009.

While a student at Juilliard, Bill took a course with noted arranger Eric W. G. Leidzen. At the beginning of the school year, Bill and the five other students in the class participated in a drawing to see what work they would arrange to complete the course. Bill drew as his assignment Gershwins Rhapsody in Blue - without the piano solo that is an integral part of the original work.

Fast forward to the next spring and the annual Juilliard concert at New Yorks Town Hall, where all six arrangements were presented as part of a competition. The judges for this contest were a true blue-ribbon panel - Lucien Cailliet, another noted arranger; William Revelli, long-time Director of Bands at the University of Michigan; Edwin Franko Goldman, Director of the Goldman Band; and famous British composer Percy Aldridge Grainger.

Bill's arrangement of Rhapsody in Blue won First Prize.

To learn more about Col. Baldwin, and the Band, please visit our web site:

http://calcb.org

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Music

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• Rhapsody in Blue
• Col. WIlliam Baldwin
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