Everything Band: Episode 124 - Joseph Kreines

Joseph Kreines is a legendary conductor in Florida and co-author of Music for Concert Band. ​

Topics:

• Joseph’s background in music and how a Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert featuring Artur Rubinstein inspired his career as a musician.
• How he came to Florida as the Assistant Conductor of the Florida Orchestra and his first steps as a conductor and clinician for young bands and orchestras in the state.
• The story of how, as a young conductor he caught the attention of the faculty at Tanglewood, including Lukas Foss and Aaron Copland.
• Advice for score study when approaching an unfamiliar work.
• A discussion of the works on his first Florida All-State Concert band and a more generalized discussion about literature.

Links:

• Joseph Kreines
• Alfred Music
• Music for Concert Band
• Ruggles: Lilacs
• Carter: Capitol Hill March
• Glière: Symphony No. 3 'Ilya Muromets'
• Ribble: Bennet’s Triumphal
• Willan: Royce Hall Suite

Biography:

A native of Chicago, Joseph Kreines came to Florida as associate conductor of the Florida Symphony Orchestra, where he served for four years. Subsequently, he was conductor of the Brevard Symphony, associate conductor of the Florida Orchestra in Tampa, and musical director for several opera and musical theatre productions. He has served as clinician and guest conductor with some 300 bands, orchestras and choruses throughout the nation and also appears as piano accompanist at numerous recitals and festivals.

In addition, Mr. Kreines has composed a number of original works for various media, and has made numerous transcriptions for concert band and brass choir, and other chamber ensembles, being particularly well-known for those of the music of Percy Grainger. He is also the author of Music for Concert Band, a selective annotated guide to band literature.
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Kreines received a Masters degree in Music from the University of South Florida and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Chicago. He did additional study at the Tanglewood Music Festival in 1958 where he was chosen to participate in the conducting class with fellow classmates Zubin Mehta, Claudio Abbado, David Zinman, and Gustav Meier. In 2004, he was honored as an inductee to the Roll of Distinction in the Florida Bandmasters Association Hall of Fame.