5/17/2006

Contact: K.E. Schwab  -- 724-738-2199;  e-mail: karl.schwab@sru.edu

MUSICIANS’ CONCERT BAND PLANS FOUR SUMMER CONCERTS;

PLUS SPECIAL JAZZ ORCHESTRA EVENT AT SRU

     SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. –  The Musicians’ Concert Band, under its new conductor Jeff Kroner will again offer a four-concert summer series plus a special concert by the Musicians’ Concert Band Jazz Orchestra as summer entertainment on the Slippery Rock University campus.

     The concerts, open to the public, will be offered at 8 p.m. in Miller Auditorium as the band begins its 20th  season, the first under Kroner an SRU graduate and member of the band since its inception. Kroner accepted the conductor/director’s baton last December from longtime leader and band founder Blasé S. Scarnati, professor emeritus of music at SRU. Kroner is a member of the Butler Area School District faculty where he teaches guitar and music technology classes and directs the symphonic and jazz bands.

      Concert dates are: June 16, June 29, July 13 (“Side by Side IV” concert), and Aug. 10, with the jazz orchestra set for July 27. The annual “Side by Side” concert allows band musicians to be joined on stage with members of their family or their students who also play musical instruments.

     The concerts will offer a variety of marches, Broadway selections and other works arranged especially for concert band.

     The special jazz orchestra performance will be jointly led by Jack DiIanni, James Cunningham and Kroner. The group, composed of members of the standard Musicians Concert Band, has performed previously, including the 2004 season. The special jazz concert will include a selection of numbers by composers, including Glenn Miller, Stan Kenton, Duke Ellington, Count Basie and others.

     Lew Kroner, brother to the director, is the band’s new associate conductor. The 1994 SRU graduate is a music teacher in Neshannock Township School District.

     The near 100-member band is composed of musicians from throughout the western Pennsylvania region, including music teachers and others who have musical skills but work in a variety of other professions electing to use their musical talents as a hobby and for their love of entertaining.

## PN, PGN, WPN, PR

MCB06.kes.txt