Concert band places second in national competition
The Hot Springs Concert Band and Craig V. Hamilton, director, has placed second in the national American Prize Competition.
The judges said the band was “polished and tight in sound and presentation of their works.”
The band was selected from applications reviewed this summer from across the United States.
The Southern Tier Concert Band, a community band in Binghamton, N.Y., received first place.
The American Prize is a series of new, nonprofit competitions designed to recognize and reward the best performing artists, ensembles and composers in the United States based on submitted recordings.
Established in 1975, the Hot Springs Concert Band has grown from 20 local residents into an 80-member band — the largest community band in Arkansas — and the only one rehearsing and performing year-round.
Its members come from 17 communities in central Arkansas, some driving 70 miles each way to rehearsals and performances.
The HSCB performs four indoor and eight outdoor concerts annually. Audience sizes range from 650, indoor and formal, to 1,500, outdoor and informal in Hot Springs National Park, for these concerts.
Each 90- minute concert has a theme, and the music is selected accordingly.
The HSCB previous- ly earned the coveted Hot Springs’ “Tourism Organization of the Year” award.
It commissioned three pieces, performed at two U.S. naturalization ceremonies, played for Hot Springs National Park’s 175th anniversary, and hosted three national band conventions.
It also sponsors a bi- annual national composition competition and an annual student scholarship program.