UNO Professor of Flute, Dr. Christine Beard, served as a guest soloist with a Victorian-era band at the inaugural international Vintage Band Festival (VBF) held in MN in 2006, after which she was invited to join the ensemble as a permanent core member. Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band was founded in 2002 by historian Dr. Michael O’Connor to explore the largely forgotten repertoire of wind band music composed between the end of the Civil War and the advent of the Sousa Band in 1892. Newberry’s Band plays only music published during this time, and on high-pitch (A=456) instruments from the era with original period mouthpieces; Beard plays a vintage silver and rosewood Rudall & Carte Boehm-system piccolo made in 1900.

Christie has joined her NVCB colleagues at all 4 Vintage Band Festivals, as well as various performances across the USA. The Newberry Band released their first CD, “Thomas Coates: The Father of American Band Music” in 2016 on the MSR Classics label under the baton of Douglas Hedwig. NVCB’s second CD, “The Gilded Age: Late 19th Century Music for American Wind Band” has just been released, also on the MSR Classics label. For this recording, NVCB was conducted by Dr. Elisa Koehler and features piccolo specialist Beard on a solo track, “Through the Air” by August Damm, along with solos by colleagues Dominic Giardino (clarinet), and Don Johnson III (cornet).

For more information or to purchase, visit http://www.msrcd.com/catalog/cd/MS1726?fbclid=IwAR1N_TP1IIX_aU06DTcc_AOmCKXYBr9qLFIbcJT3qYzZK1ETFc2cHYf2NL0