Founding and Tragedy
In 1996, Rick Modica '99 began a mission to bring a wind ensemble to Princeton. He worked for a year and formed the Princeton University Wind Ensemble. Unfortunately however, he was tragically killed in a car accident while on Spring Break in 1997. The ensemble restarted the following year and prepared a concert that spring in the University Chapel in Rick's memory. Dr. Biancosino, director of Princeton High School bands, conducted the ensemble during that premier concert. In the spring of 1998, the ensemble included 20 students from Princeton University and about 20 students from Princeton High School.
Growth and Progression
The Princeton University Wind Ensemble began the 1998/99 year under the direction of a new conductor, Paul Andrew Balog. With Princeton University students accounting for the full membership, over 50 students had joined the ensemble by winter. The ensemble performed its first ever concert in Richardson Auditorium on April 9, 1999. It quickly attained much attention as one of the fastest growing musical groups on campus.
In the 1999/2000 season, the ensemble enjoyed a full complement of musicians and performed two concerts that year. Its outdoor spring concert in Woodrow Wilson Plaza,entitled "Concert Under the Stars," was fantastically successful with over 600 people in attendance and has since become an annual tradition.
The ensemble received a much-needed boost in the 2000/2001 season when the ensemble welcomed a new conductor, Bruce Yurko. Concerts this year featured Johan de Meij's The Lord of the Rings and our tradition of performing The Star Wars Trilogy by John Williams began this year as well. The following year, the group tackled Pictures at an Exhibition and, in the wake of September 11th, peformed American Elegy by Frank Ticheli.
In the following years, the Ensemble continued to explore and perform a wide variety of music under Yurko’s direction, including the works of Bernstein, Holst, and Persichetti. When Yurko stepped down from the podium in 2004 to devote time to other endeavors, Mr. Andrew Stachow generously offered his time and attention as interim conductor and allowed the group to experience another year of exciting material by composers such as Giannini, Khachaturian, and Shostakovich.
In 2005, PUWE welcomed Mr. Robert Hankle, a professional trombonist who achieved great success as a high school band director after discovering a love of teaching. After successfully leading the ensemble for 4 years, Hankle resigned for personal reasons at the end of the 2008/2009 season.
This year the ensemble is proud to welcome Philadelphia Pops principal trumpet Bob Gravener to the helm. Gravener brings superior musicianship and over 25 years of teaching experience to PUWE and looks forward to kicking off the 2009/2010 season.
One of the four main performing groups on campus, the Wind Ensemble is an excellent musical outlet for all winds, brass, and percussion at Princeton. Students retain much control of the group and their leadership permits them to choose the direction of the ensemble, making it an ideal group for dedicated instrumentalists.
