Biography
In March 1925, the United States Coast Guard Band was organized with the assistance of Lt. Charles Benter, leader of the United States Navy Band, Dr. Walter Damrosch, conductor of the New York Philharmonic, and "American March King" John Philip Sousa, former director of the United States Marine Band.
Forty years later, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Congressional Legislation that resulted in the Coast Guard Band becoming the permanent, official musical representative of the nation's oldest continuous seagoing service. This event established the Coast Guard Band as one of the five premier service bands in the United States.
The duties of the Coast Guard Band have greatly expanded since 1965. Originally a small command band located at the Academy and used primarily for local purposes, today the band routinely tours throughout the United States and has performed in the former Soviet Union and in England. It represents the Coast Guard around the nation and the world, at presidential functions, and for the Secretary of Homeland Security and other cabinet officials on formal and informal occasions.
Since its formation in 1925, the Coast Guard Band has developed an international reputation as one of the finest professional concert bands in the world, offering music of great variety and appeal. The band produces recordings and regularly furnishes programs to National Public Radio for broadcast over the entire country. Concerts have also been broadcast in Australia, Japan and Europe.
The Coast Guard Band is headquartered in New London, Connecticut.
(See also "US Coast Guard Band")
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