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Musician To Conduct Original Work At Rutgers Event
Rockbridge County resident Peter Del Vecchio, a lifelong musician, composer, conductor and trumpet player, has served locally as principal trumpet with the Rockbridge Symphony, trumpet soloist, conductor of the Kendal Singers, leader of Trio Festivo, liturgical musician at St. Patrick’s Catholic and Collierstown Presbyterian churches, as well as adjunct instructor of music at Washington and Lee University and Southern Virginia University.
Del Vecchio, a Rockbridge Baths resident, will conduct his original symphonic work, “A Rutgers Rhapsody: Rhapsody in Scarlet,” in celebration of the 40th anniversary season of the Rutgers University Alumni Wind Symphony, which he founded in 1983 at the age of 31. The celebratory concert will take place at Nicholas Music Center on the Rutgers University campus in New Brunswick, N.J., on Saturday, May 4, at 7:30 p.m.
Del Vecchio received his bachelor’s degree in music education from Rutgers in 1973 and his master’s degree in trumpet performance from Montclair University in 1991. While an undergraduate, he served as an officer of the Rutgers Bands, while experiencing both musical and management positions of the various concert, marching, and jazz ensembles.
Following an Alumni Marching Band homecoming performance in 1983, he brought together a group of Rutgers Band alumni to organize a classical concert group: The Rutgers University Alumni Wind Symphony. He then served as the group’s conductor for its first two seasons.
“In the four decades since, the RUAWS has continued and has grown in both size and stature, f lourishing under the stewardship of talented conductors and an allvolunteer board of directors,” Del Vecchio stated. “The RUAWS is unique in being the only university alumni wind symphony in the nation which holds regular rehearsals and performances, which I believe is a testimony to the legacy of the Rutgers Band program’s spirit and energy.”
In 2014, in celebration of the symphony’s 30year season, Del Vecchio composed and premiered “A Rutgers Rhapsody,” a 10-minute work which celebrates the very concept of time - as manifested on the Rutgers campus by the sounding of the Old Queens Bell atop the university’s historic building of the same name.
The Rhapsody celebrates time together as collegiate youth, discovering and emerging into adulthood; and time beyond college, with alumni maintaining and strengthening bonds of friendships over four decades by creating exciting, high-quality performance experiences via the RUAWS.
Del Vecchio has incorporated into the Rhapsody the seven most beloved songs of Rutgers. These are “The Old Queens Bell,” “The Rutgers Alma Mater: On the Banks of the Old Raritan,” “A Hymn to Queens,” “The Douglass College Alma Mater,” “Colonel Rutgers,” “The Bells Must Ring,” and “Loyal Sons of Rutgers”.
“A Rutgers Rhapsody” is dedicated to Dr. Scott Whitener, former director of bands at Rutgers, and to New Jersey music educator and fellow bandsman Nicholas Santoro, a past conductor of the RUAWS. “Scott Whitener established the modern Rutgers Band program in 1966, and his influence is felt in music education throughout America”, said Del Vecchio.
The 40th anniversary concert of the Rutgers University Alumni Wind Symphony will be livestreamed on Saturday evening. For further information, contact Peter Del Vecchio at (540) 460-2440 or email him at [email protected].
PETER Del Vecchio, at age 31, conducts the Premier Performance of the Rutgers University Alumni Wind Symphony on the Rutgers University campus on March 3, 1984.
