Eastman Showcase 2004
Semper Musicus
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Semper Musicus
In August, Chief Warrant Officer Kenneth W. Megan, Jr. (BM ’73) was appointed Director of the United States Coast Guard Band – only the sixth in the 80-year history of the Band, based in New London, Connecticut. Megan will officially replace Captain Lewis J. Buckley on October 1, pending approval by the United States Senate and President George W. Bush. Megan joined the Coast Guard Band in June 1975, and was appointed the band’s Assistant Director in July 1986.
Megan’s Eastman training in music education, composing, and arranging has served him well in his 29 years with the organization. Besides a musician and arranger, Megan has been the Band’s assistant director, director of public information, producer of its radio broadcast series, and supervisor of the Band’s popular Young People’s Concerts and Recital Series. Megan has earned the Coast Guard Meritorious Service Medal, two Coast Guard Commendation Medals, and the Coast Guard Achievement Medal.
During the Coast Guard Band’s visit to the former Soviet Union in June 1989, Megan coordinated the events to set up the first tour of an American military band in that country - and conducted a joint performance of Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever” with the Leningrad Military District Band.
For more information about the United States Coast Guard Band and Megan’s appointment, visit www.uscg.mil/band.
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Bassoonist Wins Avery Fisher Career Grant
The bassoon is traditionally somewhat overlooked in the concert repertory, but Peter Kolkay (MM ’00) is taking the lowest woodwind instrument to new heights. In 2002 he became the first bassoonist to win the Concert Artists Guild International Competition in its 51-year history; and in May 2004, he won one of the most prestigious prizes for young musicians, an Avery Fisher Career Grant – again, the first bassoonist ever to do so.
Peter is visiting assistant professor of bassoon at West Virginia State University, but his concert calendar for 2004-2005 is also well filled. He’ll play a special quintet version of Peter and the Wolf at New York’s 92nd Street Y, give recitals in Chicago and Utica, and tour the west coast with the chamber ensemble Concertante.
Peter is noted for his performances of contemporary music, particularly the chamber works of Elliott Carter; he also performed under John Adams in the opening concert of Carnegie Hall’s new performance space, Zankel Hall. He will join fellow bassoonist Rufus Oliver in the first performances of a Concerto for Two Bassoons and Orchestra by American composer Harold Meltzer – a piece commissioned by Concert Artists Guild to showcase Kolkay’s talent.
For more information on Peter Kolkay, visit the Concert Artists Guild website at www.concertartists.org.