SVCB Holiday Concert to Feature Brian Swanhall

Saturday, December 9 at 7:30PM at C-RHS

COBLESKILL – Conductor Samanatha Baldwin has scheduled the Schoharie Valley Concert Band (SVCB) Holiday Concert for Saturday, December 9th at 7:30PM at Cobleskill-Richmondville HS Auditorium.  Students will be admitted free and the performance is open to the general-public.

SFC Brian Swanhall will be the featured trumpet soloist on “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by Hugh Marin and Ralph Blane. In 2018 SFC Swanhall retired as the C-RHS band conductor after 33 years including prior stints teaching band and chorus at Jefferson CSD and Richmondville CSD.

SFC Swanhall joined the US Army Band in 1985 as an active-duty musician and spent 3 years at Ft. Devens, MA as a trumpeter touring New England and New York with the Stage and Concert Bands. He then transferred to the NY Army National Guard Band reserves in Peekskill, where he served until July 2020.

SFC Swanhall is a member of the SVCB and has performed with the Schenectady County Community Band playing trumpet and French horn and the Cobleskill College Jazz Band playing trumpet, trombone, and alto saxophone.   He also performs in area musicals.  

Conductor Baldwin’s program includes several holiday favorites. “Hark! The Herald Angels Swing” is Chris Harp’s 2013 modern arrangement of the English cleric Charles Wesley’s original 1700’s piece whose title ended in “Sing”.  “Sparkling Lights” is a 2016 Matt Conway fanfare of the German folksong “O Christmas Tree” or “O Tannenbaum” (evergreen fir tree).  “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming” is a 1988 arrangement of the German advent hymn which features strong chordal harmonies.

“The Polar Express” is Jerry Brubaker’s medley of four musical themes from the 2004 movie.  “Fanfare of the Festival of Lights” by Evan VanDoren is based on Hanukkah melodies from “The Dreidel Song” and “Ma’oz Tzur”.  “Happy Holiday / White Christmas” intertwines melodies from these two Irving Berlin’s songs which were featured in the 1940’s motion picture Irving Berlin’s “Holiday Inn”.  Leroy Anderson’s Christmas favorite, “Sleigh Ride”, which he surprisingly began writing during a 1947 summer heat wave, will round out the program.

The Schoharie Valley Concert Band is open to all area residents including high school and college students.  Rehearsals are held on Thursday evenings from 7-9:15 PM. in the Cobleskill-Richmondville HS band room.  Rehearsals for the Valentine Pops Concert Series will begin on January 4, 2024.  For information on how to join the band, please contact Conductor Samantha Baldwin at svcbconductor@gmail.com.