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USMA
Band Listening Room
Fault Lines: West Point Saxophone Quartet
The Hellcats: A Day in the Life
USMA Band
Bicentennial Recording Project
The rich heritage of the United States Military Academy Band dates back to the Revolutionary War. As the oldest active band in the U.S. Army and the oldest unit at West Point, the Academy Band has a long and noble history of service to the nation. By an act of Congress in 1802, the Military Academy was established and with it the need for military music. In 1817 the ensemble gained the title “West Point Band” and by 1866 had been officially given the name it still bears today. The Military Academy celebrated its bicentennial during the 2001-02 academic year and the theme “Duty-Honor-Country: West Point at 200 Years - Timeless Leadership,” is exemplified by the Academy Band's proud, continuous service at West Point. The band celebrated this singular occasion through a myriad of events. Among these were a series of concerts at West Point's Eisenhower Hall; the recently released compact disc titled West Point on the March; a composition contest, the winner of which was Alan Fletcher for An American Song; a gala concert at Carnegie Hall on March 15, 2002; and the commissioning of new works by renowned composers. The tradition of commissioning pieces began with the academy's sesquicentennial in 1952. Captain Francis Resta, the band's commander, encouraged prominent composers of the day to write for the Academy Band. The result of his efforts included works by Robert Russell Bennett, Henry Cowell, Roy Harris, Erik Leidzen, Darius Milhaud and William Grant Still. The cornerstone of the sesquicentennial commissions is Morton Gould's Symphony for Band (West Point Symphony). The Bicentennial Music Sub-Committee, chaired by the band's former commander, Lieutenant Colonel David Deitrick, commissioned many eminent composers to write for the ensemble. Just as the Academy Band contributed to band repertoire through the sesquicentennial works, the bicentennial commissions will continue this legacy and leave an indelible mark on the world of wind music.
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Academy
Clarinet Quartet
