Penn Central Wind Band Wins Sousa Award
Feb. 9, 2004
Penn Central Wind Band Wins Sousa Award
LEWISBURG, Pa. — The Penn Central Wind Band, conducted by Bucknell professor William Kenny, has received the prestigious Sudler Silver Scroll Award from the John Philip Sousa Sudler Silver Scroll Committee.
The award `identifies, recognizes and honors a community band which has demonstrated particularly high standards of excellence in music presentation and has played a significant and leading role in the cultural and musical environment in the respective community." Just 25 bands have been so honored since the award's inception in 1987.
Director of university bands, Kenny holds his degrees from Oregon State University and University of Illinois. With the faculty at Bucknell since 1990, he also is a hornist in the Commonwealth Brass Quintet and principal horn with the Williamsport Symphony and the Orchestra of the Susquehanna Valley Chorale.
The band, which is in its 10th season, is known throughout the region for its Sousa-recreation concerts and for its performances of major original compositions for band. It includes 40 professional musicians and music teachers from many towns from the region including Lewisburg, Danville, Selinsgrove, State College, Williamsport, Berwick and Mifflinburg. The band is sponsored by Bucknell as a service to the region.
The John Philip Sousa Foundation is a non-profit foundation dedicated to the promotion of international understanding through the medium of band music. Through the administration of band related projects, the foundation seeks to uphold the standards and ideals of that icon of the American spirit, John Philip Sousa.
