CMS Hosts the U.S. Coast Guard Band Saxophone Quartet

Community Music School is pleased to present a concert by the United States Coast Guard Band Saxophone Quartet on Saturday, September 27th at 1 pm. The concert takes place at the Centerbrook Meetinghouse, 51 Main Street, Centerbrook and is FREE and open to the public.

The United States Coast Guard Band Saxophone Quartet is comprised of the saxophone section of the U.S. Coast Guard Band, one of the five premier U.S. military bands. In addition to performing throughout Taiwan in 2009 and 2010, the Quartet performs regularly at conferences held by the World Saxophone Congress and the North American Saxophone Alliance, and has performed at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic and at Carnegie Hall. The Quartet also performs at universities throughout New England and on recitals as part of the Coast Guard Band’s Chamber Players concert series. The Quartet’s members also form the Element Saxophone Quartet, winning medals at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

The members of the quartet are: Chief Musician Joshua Thomas, Musician 1st Class Greg Case, Musician 1st Class Joe D’Aleo, and Chief Musician Jeff Emerich.

The United States Coast Guard Band is the premier band representing the United States Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security. The 55-member ensemble has performed at some of the most prestigious venues in the nation, including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall. The Band also has a rich history of performing internationally: it is especially honored to have been the first American military band to perform in the former Soviet Union, with concerts in Leningrad and the surrounding area in 1989. In 2008, the Coast Guard Band became the first premier American military band to perform a concert tour of Japan. In addition, the US Coast Guard Brass Quintet and Saxophone Quartet performed throughout Taiwan to great acclaim in 2010, and the full band completed a tour in Taiwan in July of 2011.

Based at the US Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, the Coast Guard Band frequently appears in Washington, DC, at presidential and cabinet level functions on formal and informal occasions. Historic events include National Christmas Tree lighting ceremonies, the American Bicentennial Celebration with President Gerald Ford, World War II Fiftieth Anniversary events in England, and Inaugural celebrations for every President since Herbert Hoover.