Palmetto Concert Band

Performer Details

Performer Bio Synopsis

The Palmetto Concert Band was founded in 1999 by James K. Copenhaver and William J. Moody. The ensemble is comprised of professional and semi-professional musicians from throughout South Carolina, with members also from North Carolina and Georgia. A large majority of the ensemble’s members are alumni of the University of South Carolina School of Music; more than half of its members are public school band directors. These experienced performers, who receive no compensation for participating, choose to play with the ensemble because of their passion for making music and performing outstanding repertoire composed or transcribed for the wind band. Now in its seventeenth season, the Palmetto Concert Band performs annually for the University of South Carolina Band Clinic in February, at its Memorial Day Concert honoring members and veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces, and on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. In addition to performing a season of free concerts in the Columbia area, the ensemble has also been featured on the international stage. Based upon a recording of its premier performance at the Koger Center for the Arts in February 1999, the ensemble was invited to perform the finale concert at the 1999 Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, Illinois. The Palmetto Concert Band is proud to have been given the honor of performing at the Midwest Clinic again in December 2008, and will perform a third time at the end of this year. Other featured performances include the South Carolina Music Educators in Charleston, SC in February 2005, and the North Carolina Music Educators Convention in Winston-Salem, NC in November 2011. In March 2010, the ensemble performed at the American Bandmasters Association’s 76th Annual Convention and gave the finale concert at the 2016 National Band Association Convention, both in Charleston, SC.

Palmetto Concert Band

Conductor's Bio

Scott Weiss is the Director of Bands and Sarah Bolick Smith Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of South Carolina, a position he has held since 2010. Previously he served on the faculties of the University of Kansas, the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Lamar University, and Emory University. He also has nine years of public school teaching experience, including six years as Director of Bands at Harrison High School in Cobb County, Georgia, where his wind ensemble was featured at the 1999 Midwest Clinic. Under his direction, the USC Wind Ensemble has performed before the College Band Directors National Association (2013), the American Bandmasters Association (2014), and the South Carolina Music Educators Association (2012). In 2012 the ensemble also toured the People’s Republic of China, performing 7 standing-room-only concerts in 6 cities, including a sold out performance in the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing that was telecast throughout the country. Together, Weiss and the USCWE have recorded four discs on the Summit, Naxos, and Mark Custom labels; and the group has commissioned and premiered dozens of new works by composers such as Samuel Adler, William Bolcom, David Dzubay, Jennifer Higdon, Joseph Schwantner, and James Stephenson. Equally at home conducting wind ensembles and symphony orchestras, Scott Weiss maintains an active international conducting schedule. Recent appearances include critically-acclaimed concerts with the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, the Hunan Symphony Orchestra, the Nanchang Philharmonic, the Shandong Symphony Orchestra, and the Inner Mongolia Symphony Orchestra. He has also been an artist-in-residence at leading music schools around the world, including the Central Conservatory of Music (Beijing), the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and the University of Western Australia. Dr. Weiss earned an undergraduate degree in trumpet performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and both a master’s and a doctorate from the University of Illinois. He is the recipient of multiple teaching awards, and former conducting students of his hold major conducting and academic posts throughout the world.