About the Band
About | Director
| Personnel
The Callanwolde Concert Band is an independent
community concert band of adult musicians who decided
not to give up music after graduating from school. Formed
in 1972 as a summer program of the
Callanwolde Fine Arts Center, the band has operated
as an independent non-profit corporation since 1984. The
alliance with the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center continues
in the form of formal concerts at the center and mutual
support for a strong performing arts presence in the community.
The band is known throughout Georgia for its high level
of musicianship and audience appeal. This is music at
and from the grass roots, made by your neighbors. Look
closely - you may see your doctor, dentist, attorney and
your air conditioning mechanic, all united to preserve
and continue a great American tradition, the community
band.
The band of today differs greatly from the
band of 1972, but the spirit and appreciation for good
music played well has continued and flourished as the
band has matured into one of the finest ensembles of its
type in the southeast.
Founded under the baton of Charles Bradley,
famed director of the outstanding East Atlanta Elementary
Band, the band continued with George Webster as director
and temporarily paused operations in the summer of 1973.
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In the fall of 1973, the remaining
members decided that the band would continue and
asked for a show of hands from anyone who had
ever been a band director. One hand hesitantly
went up and by unanimous vote of everyone else,
he was told, "Clyde, you are our new conductor"
and given absolutely no choice in the matter whatsoever.
Clyde Bales had not "waved
the stick" in about twenty years, and was
making his living as a communications engineer.
His music degree from LSU had rusted quietly except
for playing percussion with the band for fun.
He was, however, brave and willing to preside
over our growth until 1985 when a job change transferred
him away from Atlanta.
This time we prepared for a formal conductor search,
but fortunately did not have to look beyond our
trumpet section. Since that time the podium has
been occupied by Mr. Raymond Handfield.
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O. Clyde Bales |
Our Conductor, Raymond Handfield |
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Our Conductor
and Music Director Mr Raymond Handfield, a life member
of the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia honorary music fraternity,
is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music (trumpet)
where he was a student of Sidney Mear. His masters
degree is from Boston University where he continued
his trumpet study with Armando Ghitalla. He taught
instrumental music and directed school bands in Massachusetts,
New York and Georgia, retiring after a thirty year
career.
Mr Handfield has performed in concert with the Oslo,
Norway Opera Orchestra. He served as principal trumpet
with the Orchard Park Symphony Orchestra, New York
where he also directed the youth orchestra and served
on the board of directors. Mr. Handfield also served
as prinicipal trumpet with the "Opera Sacre" of Buffalo,
New York. In Georgia he served as assistant principal
trumpet for the Callanwolde Concert band before taking
the podium in 1985.
Mr Handfield's other activities include an avid interest
in duplicate bridge and a lifelong argument with the
nearest available golf course. |
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Col. William Baldwin first became interested in music at the age of nine when he heard Sousa and his band in concert, shortly before Sousa’s death. He entered the Juilliard School of Music in New York in 1937, majoring in clarinet and conducting. He was a conducting student of the famous French maestro Pierre Monteux, a conductor for numerous ensembles including the Metropolitan Opera and the San Francisco and Boston Symphony Orchestras. While at Juilliard Col. Baldwin was also a clarinetist in the successor to Sousa’s Band, the world famous Goldman Band, with its daily summertime concerts in Central Park and Brooklyn.
Col. Baldwin was appointed Music Director of the Manhattan Light Opera Company in New York in 1940. He was drafted in to the United States Army in 1941 and for the next quarter century conducted Army bands all over the world, among them the First Division Band, the 82nd Airborne Division Band, and the United Nations Band in Seoul, South Korea. From 1959 to 1964 he was a conductor of the main United States Army Band in Washington, DC. In 1956 at the invitation of President Eisenhower, he conducted a special federal concert of that band at Constitution Hall, a 200-year summary of American band music.
After retiring from the Army, Col. Baldwin was
for many years Chair of the Music Department at
Atlanta’s Westminster Schools. Past 90 years
of age, he leads an active life, following a life-long
hobby of collecting and working with antique clocks.
He still conducts from time to time, most recently
a full concert last summer with the United States
Army Band in Washington DC. The Callanwolde Concert
Band is honored to have Col. Baldwin as a guest
conductor.
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Guest Conductor
Col. William Baldwin,
US Army (Retired) |
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