International clinic no pipe dream for wind symphony

Friday, Dec. 05, 2014

SALT LAKE CITY — For Anne Boyer, the chance to perform at the 2014 Midwest Clinic International Band, Orchestra and Music Conference is “an absolute gift.”

Nicole Marriott sees it as “a fantastic opportunity.”

The two are among the 55 musicians who form the Utah Wind Symphony, which is under the baton of Scott Hagen, who also is Director of Bands at the University of Utah.

Boyer, the music director at Saint Peter Parish in American Fork, is president-elect of the Diocesan Pastoral Council and is active in the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women. Last year, she received the Outstanding Elementary Music Educator of the Year award from the Utah Music Educators Association for her work with the American Fork Elementary School Band Program; she is the assistant director of band and orchestra at American Fork Junior High School. A trumpet and cornet player, Boyer is a founding member of Utah Premiere Brass and a core member of the Utah Wind Symphony.

Marriott met Hagen while she was a music performance major at the U, and he asked her to join the Utah Wind Symphony when the group formed four years ago. A section leader for the Utah Wind Symphony, she teaches private lessons and is a substitute oboist and English horn player with the Utah Symphony. In addition, she is a member of the Trio de Bois and the SaltAir Winds quintet. She also does freelance music gigs, such as recording for the soundtrack for a television series that premieres this month.

Although Marriott recently moved to South Jordan, she grew up in American Fork, where she played with the Saint Peter church choir since she was in eighth grade and continues to return to the parish to play at celebrations such as Easter and Christmas.

The Utah Wind Symphony is the only adult community band from the United States to be selected to perform this year at the Midwest Clinic International Band, Orchestra and Music Conference, which will be Dec. 17-20 in Chicago, “the largest music conference of its kind,” according to the organization’s website, www.midwestclinic.org.

Those attending the conference have the opportunity to attend clinics and exhibits; Boyer, who attended last year, said she and a colleague learned much that they implemented at American Fork Junior High School, and she is looking forward to a similar experience this year. 

The conference also provides an opportunity to listen to other ensembles from throughout the United States and other countries; this year, groups from Japan, Finland, Spain and Australia will perform.

Musical groups must audition to perform at the clinic, “and it’s highly competitive,” Boyer said.

The Utah Wind Symphony submitted an audition tape after Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser, a member of the board of directors of the Midwest Band Clinic and renowned clinician and educator, heard the ensemble play at the Utah Music Educators Conference in St. George in 2012, Boyer said, adding that she didn’t have high hopes for being selected because the group has only been together for a few years.

 “It’s almost unprecedented that you would get to do that so quickly;” when she heard they had won the audition, she “was delirious” and is still “beyond excited,” she said.

Marriott had a similar reaction. Going to the conference “is a fantastic opportunity, and it really shows where this group has gone musically, especially in the short amount of time that it’s been together,” she said.

To help defray the expenses of the Utah Wind Symphony’s trip to Chicago and attendance at the Midwest Band Clinic, the “Midwest Send-off Concert” with conductor Scott Hagen and featuring the American Fork High School Wind Symphony, is scheduled for Dec. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at American Fork High School.

Donations also may be made at http://www.utahwindsymphony.org/support.php or gofundme.com/utahwindsymphony; or checks can be sent to Utah Wind Symphony, P.O. Box 651358, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84165.