Young Musicians from Across Northeast Converge at Prestigious Summer Program

07/20/2018

Contact for media: Christine Gillette, 978-934-2209 or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu

Media Advisory

When: Wednesday, July 18 through Saturday, July 21

What: More than 130 talented musicians from 56 communities in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania are at UMass Lowell this week for the prestigious Mary Jo Leahey Symphonic Band Camp. 

The camp, now in its 22nd year, brings top high-school musicians together with UMass Lowell faculty, alumni and student instructors, as well as special guests, for a weeklong immersion into the world of symphonic music presented by the university’s Department of Music. Over the course of this week, they are participating in individual instruction and performance, as well as together in ensembles and a full orchestra. The camp’s executive director is Debra-Nicole Huber, a UMass Lowell graduate who also serves as the university’s director of instrumental music outreach and associate director of university bands. 

The public will have the opportunity to hear the musicians perform twice:

• National anthem at Lowell Spinners Armed Forces Night on Thursday, July 19 – Camp participants will perform the anthem prior to the start of the Red Sox minor-league team’s game at approximately 6 p.m. The event will salute active and retired military personnel and feature an appearance by New England Patriots player Deatrich Wise. See www.lowellspinners.com for tickets.
• Free concert on campus on Saturday, July 21 – The performance, which starts at noon, will be under the direction of Huber. It will include renditions of “Persis” by James Hosay, who has served as a guest conductor at the camp, as well as Frank Ticheli’s arrangement of the traditional Shaker song “Simple Gifts” and “Tetrahedron,” an original composition by Daniel Lutz, UMass Lowell director of university bands, who will conduct that portion of the performance. At the conclusion of the concert, the new Mary Jo Leahey Scholarship will be presented to its first-ever recipient, an incoming freshman music major from Waltham, Mass. The concert will be held at Durgin Hall at 35 Wilder St., Lowell on UMass Lowell’s South Campus and free parking will be available in the nearby Wilder Lot.

The student musicians hail from Acton, Andover, Belchertown, Beverly, Billerica, Brockton, Byfield, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Cheshire, Danvers, Dracut, East Boston, Fall River, Gilbertville, Groton, Hanson, Harvard, Lancaster, Littleton, Lowell, Lynnfield, Malden, Marblehead, Maynard, Methuen, Milford, Natick, North Andover, North Attleboro, Northborough, Norwood, Peabody, Pepperell, Quincy, Reading, Rowley, Salem, Stow, Taunton, Townsend, Tyngsborough, Wakefield, Walpole, Wayland, Westborough, Westford, Westwood and Woburn, Mass., along with Hudson, Londonderry, Milford and Pelham, N.H.; Jenkintown, Pa.; Jersey City, N.J.; and Putnam, Conn.

Members of the media are invited to attend rehearsals and performances and to interview participating students and music instructors. Please contact UMass Lowell media relations for details.