Williams Opus Zero Band Selected to Perform at Band Directors Conference
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - The Williams College Opus Zero Band will perform in the final evening concert at the College Band Directors National Association Eastern Division Conference on Saturday, March 13.The conference is being held March 11-14 at West Chester University. Other groups performing this year include the United States Military Academy Band at West Point, Gotham Wind Symphony, and Canada's Acadia University Wind Ensemble.
Selection for performance is highly competitive. This is the second time that a Williams band has been selected to perform at the conference – in 2006 the Symphonic Winds performed at the College Band Directors Eastern Division Conference.
The Opus Zero band, conducted by Artist-in-Residence Steven Bodner, is composed of 39 students, only one-fourth of whom are music majors. Three alumni will also join the performance – Ian Jessen '07, Mac Walton '08, and Charlie Dougherty '09.
The program will feature a performance of "Get Up/Get Down," composed by Williams alum Judd Greenstein ’01 and the premiere of a new version of "Rush" by Williams music department chair David Kechley.
The Opus Zero Band, a highly flexible, chamber-ensemble extension of the Williams Symphonic Winds, was formed in 2006.
The ensemble is committed to presenting innovative and provocative performances featuring the most significant music written today, regardless of instrumentation.
In 2008, the band presented the second complete performance (and collegiate premiere) of Louis Andriessen's masterpiece "De Materie." The Opus Zero Band has also collaborated numerous times with the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.
Bodner is co-director of I/O New Music, and teaches classical saxophone and courses in music fundamentals and aural skills acquisition.
He received his B.A. from Miami University and his M.M. in conducting from the New England Conservatory. He studied conducting with Frank Battisti, Malcolm W. Rowell, Jr., and Gary Speck, and in workshops/festivals with Gunther Schuller and Craig Kirchoff.
He is a candidate for a Ph.D. in music education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
