Tonight at 7 at the Palladium, SPC honors a longstanding leader in the arts at the college. Dr. Jonathan Steele has also been a longtime friend of the Palladium since it became part of SPC over 11 years ago.
Tonight’s tribute concert by the SPC Co0mmunity Band and Wind Symphony honors the contributions of Dr. Steele, Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts. Prior to being appointed Dean, Steele directed the SPC College Band for 16 years, and he will guest conduct several works on that evening. He will retire in June, following 28 years of service to St. Petersburg College.
Steele oversees academic activities within the Arts, Humanities, and Design, Career-and-Academic- Community at all SPC Campuses. Programs under his purview include Digital Arts, Media, Interactive Web Design, Photography Technologies, Photographic Arts, Music Industry Recording Arts, Music Performance, Music Education, Theater, Studio Art, and Art History. Recent achievements and happenings of these programs will be on display in the Palladium lobby.
The concert includes several of Steele’s favorite musical works, many of which he added to the SPC library as director of bands. SPC Professor John Shaw, principal percussionist of the Florida Orchestra, is featured as a soloist in Floyd Werle’s “The Golden Age of the Xylophone.” The Community Wind Symphony will perform “Chester” of William Schuman, the former President of the Juilliard School and a composer Steele interviewed as part of his graduate studies. The Community Concert Band will feature works of Zdechlik, Grainger, Lithgow, and Steele will conduct John Barnes Chance’s “Variations on a Korean Folk Song” and Holsinger’s “On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss.” The concert will conclude with Weinberger’s immense work “Polka and Fugue” from Schwanda the Bagpiper, utilizing the Palladium’s prized E.M. Skinner pipe organ, built in 1926.
The ability to share in music making has been a treat for SPC students, and a fitting endeavor of education, fellowship, and goodwill. SPC student Bo Garrard, a saxophonist in both the Community Concert Band and the Community Wind Symphony, said it was an honor to play in this performance.
“It’s special to be a part of an event commemorating someone who is, and will be remembered as, an integral part of the college’s history. Dr. Steele has helped shape the foundation of not only the Humanities department, but the entire college.”
The concert starts at 7 p.m.and admission is free. For more information, you can follow this link.
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