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The Palmetto Concert Band will present its fall concert at 4 p.m. Nov. 20 in Koger Center for the Arts. The concert is free and open to the public.
This concert will feature guest soloist Clifford Leaman, professor of saxophone in the USC School of Music.
The Palmetto Concert Band was organized in January 1999 to perform at USC Concert Band Clinic. The ensemble is made up of professional and semiprofessional musicians from throughout South Carolina with a few members from North Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia. A large majority of its members are alumni of the USC School of Music and more than half of the membership is public school band directors. These experienced performers receive no compensation for participating and choose to play in the group because they enjoy making music and playing outstanding repertoire composed or transcribed for the wind band. Plans for the Palmetto Concert Band are to perform each year at the USC Concert Band Clinic in February, to present a Memorial Day Concert in May, and to present a "Concert in the Park" in June. Other concerts will be given for special occasions. Co-conductors of the group are James K. Copenhaver, director of bands at USC, and William J. Moody, professor emeritus of music at USC.
Leaman received a BS degree in music education from Lebanon Valley College and master's and doctoral degrres in music from the University of Michigan where he was a student of Donald Sinta. He has served on the faculties of Furman University, Eastern Michigan University, and the University of Michigan before coming to USC. Leaman has performed and taught throughout the United States, Canada, Italy, Spain, and, most recently, China, where he was a featured guest artist for the 2004 and 2005 Yantai International Winds Art Festival and the 2005 Xi’an International Arts Festival.
In collaboration with pianist Derek Parsons, Leaman formed the Ambassador Duo in 1990. The duo has released two critically acclaimed compact discs on the Equilibrium label: Brilliance, featuring the works of Bassett, Bolcom, Lennon, Kilstofte, and Gotkovsky; and Excursions, featuring works of Heiden, Maurice, Whitney, Schumann, Rachmaninoff, Vaughan Williams, and Demersseman. Leaman is also featured on recordings of a variety of solo and chamber works for Redwood Records, CRS, and the University of Arizona Recordings.
An avid supporter of contemporary music, Leaman has commissioned and given the world premiere performances of numerous works, including concertos by Pulitzer Prize-winning composers Leslie Bassett and Michael Colgrass. Leaman is an artist-clinician for the Conn-Selmer Company, Inc., and performs exclusively on Selmer saxophones.
10/05
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