On Monday, August 1 2016 the New York Staff Band will be in concert at 7:00pm in the Old Orchard Beach Seaside Pavilion. While the band has performed in this venue many times, this undoubtedly will be a very special night that you will not want to miss. After 24 years as bandmaster of the New York Staff Band, Ron Waiksnoris will be retiring and will be conducting his final concert with the band.
Along with the New York Staff Band, the concert will feature the Eastern Territorial Songsters and General Andre Cox will be speaking. Please join us for this wonderful night of worship through music as we honor God and pay tribute to Bandmaster Ron Waiksnoris.
Monday, August 1, 2016 – 7:00pm
Old Orchard Beach Pavillion
Admission is Free
Reception to Follow
Staff Bandmaster Ronald Waiksnoris has served as conductor and musical director of the New York Staff Band of The Salvation Army since 1992. This 23-year period directing America’s premiere Salvation Army band stands as the longest in the band’s distinguished history. Leading brass authorities consider him among the finest leaders of the day, with Professor Nicholas Childs of Black Dyke Band declaring him “a bandmaster of immense stature.” The Waiksnoris era is most notable for marked achievements in its’ wide range of travel and touring, in effective use of modern media, in innovative concert programming, and in musical excellence either on stage or in recording. While guiding these, he has renewed the band’s role as a model for musical ministry and leadership not only throughout the 12-state Eastern Territory, but also literally around the globe.
Under his leadership, the band has successfully performed throughout North America, as well as toured to great acclaim in Australia, Europe and Scandinavia, impacting the brass banding community with its imaginative concert style. The 25 recordings completed during his tenure rank not only as the finest in the band’s history but are held in highest regard throughout the worldwide brass community. One mark of this critical acclaim is that the NYSB is the only non-British brass band to date to have a recording selected as Compact Disc of the Year by long-standing British Bandsman. Whether at Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall in Manhattan, the Royal Albert Hall or Cadogan Hall in London, or at international brass conferences of the International Trumpet Guild and the North American Brass Band Association, the NYSB under Ronald Waiksnoris has been rightfully heralded as “America’s finest Salvation Army brass band.”
Conducting the New York Staff Band is only part of Bandmaster Waiksnoris’ responsibilities as Territorial Music Secretary of The Salvation Army’s Eastern Territory, a position he has held since 1984. This makes him the longest serving TMS in the illustrious history of that pace-setting department and a worthy heir to men such as the late Commissioner Richard E. Holz and Vernon Post. Bandmaster Waiksnoris oversees music programs throughout the region, including music publications and music education programs. He has particularly made a mark on music education within the SA through innovative programs for young musicians, such as the annual Future All Stars Weekend with the NYSB, and the Star Search competition. All of this culminates in the outstanding Star Lake Musicamp that he has directed each summer for the past 30 years.
In addition to administrative duties, he also makes frequent appearances as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator. Waiksnoris has served as guest conductor in such far-flung locations as Argentina, Norway, Democratic Republic of Congo the UK and in all five territories of the SA in North America.
Like many Salvationist musicians, Bandmaster Waiksnoris received his early musical training in The Salvation Army before studying at the Hartt College of Music. Following further studies and graduation from the University of Massachusetts (Boston), he enjoyed a long and distinguished, 12-year career as the principal cornet, cornet soloist and deputy bandmaster with the NYSB prior to assuming the baton of this notable ensemble.
He and his wife, Carolee, serve faithfully at the Montclair, New Jersey, Salvation Army community church, where he has held various leadership positions such as the principal lay minister [CSM], and Sunday School teacher. He is still active on E Flat Soprano Cornet in the Montclair Citadel Band. In June 2007 the Eastern Territory of The Salvation Army honored Waiksnoris with its Great Commission Award (Matthew 28:19) for his outstanding service and ministry at the territorial, regional, and local level. In August 2014 Bandmaster Waiksnoris was honored at Star Lake Musicamp for his outstanding 30 years of leadership within the Eastern Territory and at the famous music camp.
