Affiliate Chapter News: February 2014 IUP / ITG Trumpetfest
The IUP / ITG Affiliate Chapter remains active. TrumpetFest 2014 was held on February 20-23 on the campus of Indiana University of Pennsylvania and featured student and faculty recitals. 
The Department of Music at IUP has over 300 students, most of whom are undergraduate music education majors. The trumpet studio has 25 students at present and is taught by Dr. Kevin Eisensmith and Ms. Karen Sloneker.
Junior and senior trumpet majors present recitals throughout the school year, but many choose to perform during the TrumpetFest weekend. Among those presenting recitals this weekend were:
Kathyrn Bohannon Junior – Music education Waldorf, MD
Rachel Di Pilla Junior – Music education Haddonfield, NJ
Rebekah Hiravi Junior – Music education Hollsopple, PA
Mason Stiver Junior – Music education Punxsutawney, PA
Jacob Try Junior – Music education Lansdale, PA
Dr. Eisensmith and Ms. Sloneker presented a recital on Friday evening. They collaborated on Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Trumpets in C, David Sampson’s Breakaway for two trumpets and electronics and concluded the recital with the second movement of Concertino Classico by Joseph Horovitz. Sloneker performed Handel’s Suite in D as edited by Edward Tarr. Eisensmith performed Sonata for Trumpet and Piano by Raleigh Dailey and Mark Lathan’s Song for Trumpet.
The featured ensemble for the Saturday evening concert was Indiana’s own “Wildcat Regiment Band.” The original group was formed in 1861 and served as the Regimental Band for the 105th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. The Wildcat Regiment Band today is comprised of musicians of all ages and from various professional backgrounds. Like their predecessors, the current bandsmen have been recruited from the same geographical area in Pennsylvania and come from all walks of life. The cornets and saxhorns played by the Wildcat Band today are the same as the instruments that were in service during battle and dress parades in 1861. All of the horns date from the Civil War era, some as early as 1845. Among the instruments making up the Wildcat Regiment Band today are valved bugles, cornets, and an assortment of alto, tenor, baritone and bass saxhorns and rope tension drums. Much of the original 19th century music that was performed was taken from band books found in the archives of the Smithsonian Institution and Library of Congress, as well as from private collections. Dr. Eisensmith was the featured soloist for the evening, performing Concertino in E-flat by Sachse and the Winslow Blues Quickstep by John Holloway. The Wildcat Band has performed for historic and civic events throughout the Eastern United States. National Park Service engagements include regular visits to Antietam, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Harpers Ferry, Manassas, and Monocacy.
The Wildcats perform extensively in Western Pennsylvania and at musical festivals and other events in towns such as Bethlehem and Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and Wheeling, West Virginia.
A “Trumpet Studio Recital” presented at 4:00 on Saturday featured 12 IUP freshman and sophomore trumpet majors in a group recital. Works performed included: A Hymn for the Lost and Living by Ewazen, BVernard Fitzgerald’s Ballade, Concert Etude, Op. 49 by Goedicke and the Corelli Sonata VIII.
For more information about the music department at IUP, please go to www.iup.edu/music.
Source: Dr. Kevin Eisensmith, Professor of Trumpet, Indiana University-Pennsylvania, Indiana, Pennysylvania