Don’t Judge a Conductor by His Choir

If you're a frequent reader of my blogs (as I assume everyone is), you may have noticed that I'm a fan of campus events. I like to plan them, I like to attend them, I like to get free T-shirts from them . . .

Recently, I attended a Brass Choir Concert. However, this was no ordinary brass choir concert. This was "Dead Man's Party: A Spooktacular Concert" conducted by Josef Hanson. I will use words to describe this, but the first "1000 words" will be in an easy-to-understand format (a photo!):

The Brass Choir

An up-close shot of trumpet player "Upchuck" Chris Melnychuk

(Photos courtesy of Susan Butler)

During this concert, I witnessed a banana play a trumpet solo, I saw candy, bubbles, confetti, water, and toilet paper thrown into the audience (not all at the same time), and watched two people have a cowbell-playing competition a la the famous SNL skit. I'm also 98% certain that I learned my math TA plays the French horn. Oh, and did I mention that the conductor, Josef Hanson was rolled in on a post office cart dressed as Gene Simmons? Yes, the same Josef Hanson that is the Manager of Music Performance Programs for our beautiful campus. He was dressed as Gene Simmons. Keep reading and you'll understand why.

There was another campus event I attended. This one was part of the Food for Thought series put on by Freshman Fellows. (I'm a Freshman Fellow, but I didn't help plan this event, and therefore have no qualms blogging about it.) Coincidentally, the speaker for this event was Josef Hanson, and the topic was "Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare: The Grotesque, Insane, and Sublime History of Shock Rock." You see, in addition to being the conductor of the brass choir, he also teaches, as the concert program states, "one of the first known collegiate courses on heavy metal music to be offered at any institution of higher learning." If this doesn't demonstrate the type of campus diversity we have here at Rochester, then I don't know what can.

Show me another top private university where you have a heavy metal enthusiast brass choir conductor, and I'll show you why the University of Rochester's is ever better.

Are you a musician who has an interesting combination of tastes? Let me know by leaving comments below!