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Indiana Wind Symphony to play Music Festival this week
Bringing music by Mozart, Cobine, Baksa, Smith and McGlaun to the next-to-last concert of the 2019 Greencastle Summer Music Festival, 28 members of the Indiana Wind Symphony will grace the stage at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Gobin Memorial Methodist Church.
Conducted by music director Charles Conrad, the IWS includes local resident Alice Greenburg on clarinet.
This week’s free event is sponsored by Greenburg Accounting. The festival also receives funding from local businesses and individuals who have contributed more than $16,000, surpassing the festival’s goal of “15 for 15” — $15,000 in contributions for its 15th summer of concerts “bringing the community together with friends making music for friends.”
Other business sponsors include Bridges Craft Pizza & Wine Bar, supplying intermission refreshments, The Inn at DePauw and Hillside Farms. The festival also is a recipient of a grant from the Putnam County Convention and Visitors Bureau and has an endowment through the Putnam County Community Foundation.
Next week’s season-finale concert features blues legend Tad Robinson and his band.
An Indianapolis native and current Carmel resident, Indiana Wind Symphony founder Charles Conrad has committed his educational and performance career to the study and performance of music in Indiana. He graduated from Arlington High School and attended the Indiana University School of Music, where he received a bachelor’s degree in trumpet performance, studying with legendary trumpet professor William Adam.
He earned the first master’s degree in conducting ever granted by Butler University and a doctorate in conducting from Ball State University, where his dissertation about Hoosier composer and conductor Fred Jewell was named Distinguished Dissertation by the BSU Alumni Association.
In addition to bringing music to the Hoosier state, Conrad has conducted ensembles in many other states and countries including Scotland, England, Germany, Bulgaria, Austria, Italy, Poland, Holland, France, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. A respected musicologist and author, he has presented lectures at music history and performance conferences in the United States, Germany, Slovakia, Italy, Austria and Luxembourg.
Conrad served for 20 years as choir director for John Knox Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis. He currently maintains a large private trumpet studio and is a faculty artist, adjudicator and conductor for the National Trumpet Competition. He contributed a number of articles for the new edition of “Groves Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians – American Edition,” and served as the historical musical consultant for the 20th Century Fox film “Water for Elephants,” released in 2011. Additionally, he is working on a major book on the history of American circus music.
Conrad enjoys collecting antique brass instruments and historic band photos. He is married to soprano Ann Conrad. They are the proud parents of three-legged Daphne, a rescued Boxer mix who loves attending outdoor IWS concerts in the summer.