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Time:

Wednesday
December, 15, 2021
08:00 PM - 09:30 PM

Location:

375 AB

Category

Special Performance

Conductor

COL. Jim R. Keene

Program

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Performer Details

Performer Bio Synopsis

The Concert Band is the oldest and largest of The U.S. Army Field Band's four performing components. Founded in 1946, this elite 60-member instrumental ensemble has performed in all 50 states and 30 foreign countries for audiences totaling in the hundreds of millions. Tours have taken the band throughout the United States, North and South America, Europe, and Asia. The Concert Band appears in a wide variety of settings, from such famous concert halls as the Berlin Philharmonie and Carnegie Hall to state fairgrounds and high school gymnasiums. The Concert Band regularly travels and performs with the Soldiers’ Chorus, together presenting a powerful and diverse program of marches, overtures, popular music, patriotic selections, and instrumental and vocal solos. The organization has also performed joint concerts with many of the nation's leading orchestras, including the Boston Pops, Cincinnati Pops, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and more. In addition to formal programs, the Concert Band has participated in numerous presidential inaugural parades and supported many diplomatic missions overseas. The dedication and musicianship of the members of The United States Army Field Band represent the professionalism that American Soldiers have embodied during nearly three centuries of proud service.

Conductor's Bio

Colonel Jim R. Keene became the Commander of The United States Army Field Band in January 2015. Prior to this assignment, he served as Commander of the United States Military Academy Band at West Point, New York; Commandant of the Army School of Music at Norfolk, Virginia; and at The United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own” in Washington, DC, the U.S. Army Europe Band and Chorus in Heidelberg, Germany, and the Army Ground Forces Band in Atlanta, Georgia. COL Keene has led numerous performances for international military and civilian leaders, dignitaries, and heads of state. During his time as Commander of the United States Military Academy Band at West Point, he led performances for the 125th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, co-directed the music for the National Park Service’s “A New Birth of Freedom” special for the 150th commemoration of the Battle of Gettysburg, and directed a one-hour music special holiday production by the West Point Band aired on Fox News, “A West Point Holiday.” COL Keene led The U.S. Army Chorus in performances at the interments of former Presidents Ronald Reagan in Simi Valley, California and Gerald R. Ford in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has performed for seven U.S. presidents, at the 1996 Summer Olympic and Para-Olympic Games in Atlanta, the dedication of the National WWII Memorial, the one-year anniversary of 9/11 at the Pentagon, the “Kennedy Center Honors,” and the Military District of Washington’s production “Spirit of America.” He has worked with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and Chorus and the National Symphony Orchestra, and has conducted the Dallas Wind Symphony, the Boston Pops Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic. Prior to joining the Army, COL Keene served as Assistant Conductor of the Southern Methodist University (SMU) Symphony, Orchestra Conductor at the SMU International Conservatory Summer Festival in Taos, New Mexico, and Music Director of the Albuquerque Civic Light Opera. He holds a Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting from the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University and a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from the University of New Mexico. He is a violinist, fiddler, pianist, accompanist, and songwriter, and is a native of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

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