GOLDEN GATE PARK BAND DIRECTOR GUEST CONDUCTS
SAN FRANCISCO LESBIAN/GAY FREEDOM BAND
August 7, 2008 – San Francisco , CA . Michael L. Wirgler, Music Director and Conductor of the 126-year-old Golden Gate Park Band, guest conducts the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band for its 2008-09 Community Concert Series season opener, Bands Across the Sea. A celebration of great wind ensemble music from both sides of “the pond,” the concert features rousing band classics like Holst’s salute to British folk music “Second Suite in F,” Percy Grainger’s Irish folksong-inspired “Molly on the Shore,” Sousa’s only ragtime tune “With Pleasure (Dance Hilarious),” and Joseph Jenkins’ Wild West evoking “American Overture for Band.” Concert starts 8 pm, Friday, September 12 at Ebenezer Lutheran Church, 678 Portola Drive (near Twin Peaks), San Francisco . Admission free.
“It’s a privilege for us to perform under a director of Michael Wirgler’s caliber,” says Richard Gibson, President of the Band’s board of directors. “As director of the Golden Gate Park Band, Michael has come up with 25-30 new concerts a year for nearly a decade, so he’s exposed to a fantastic range of music. This program he’s pulled together for us is like a mini band festival. We’re excited to be working with him!”
Like the 126-year-old Golden Gate Park Band he conducts, Wirgler is a San Francisco original. One of those rare San Francisco natives, Wirgler describes the City as a magnet that keeps drawing him back. He lived his first 8 years in the Marina District before moving to South San Francisco and the East Bay with his family. He earned both his B.A. and Master’s degrees at San Francisco State University, taking his Master’s Degree in clarinet performance. During his service in the Army, he was stationed at San Francisco ’s Presidio, performing clarinet with the 6th Army Band. Prior to being appointed music director of GGPB in 1999, Wirgler had a long history with that band, performing as its principal clarinetist for 25 years. A resident of Oakland today, Wirgler recently retired from teaching music for the Oakland Unified School District after 33 years with the district. He continues as an active performer, teacher and composer in the Bay Area. He performs with the Lamplighter Orchestra of San Francisco and in several East Bay swing bands, including Three O’Clock Jump Big Band. He conducts the Albany Community Band as well.
“I agreed to guest conduct the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, because I had heard several recordings of them through Keith Sklower [oboist for both the Golden Gate Park and SF Lesbian/Gay Freedom bands] and was amazed at the quality of the group,” says Wirgler. “Also my daughter said I'd better do it!”
While this concert marks Wirgler’s first time on the podium conducting the Freedom Band, he has worked with the group before, arranging segments of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet not previously transcribed for band for the Freedom Band’s Dance-Along Nutcracker®. Bands Across the Sea also features some of Wirgler’s arrangements, including a fanfare he composed in tribute to the Park Band’s 125th anniversary and a rare arrangement for wind ensemble of the Finale from Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8.
Named the "official band of the City of San Francisco " in 1998 and 2003, the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band celebrated its 30th anniversary at the 2008 Pride Concert last June. The Band is the first openly gay music organization ever, inspiring the formation of lesbian and gay bands, choruses and performing troupes around the world. Founded in 1978 by Jon Sims at the height of Anita Bryant’s anti-gay crusade, the Band debuted marching ahead of Supervisor Harvey Milk’s convertible in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade. The Band has been making music to build understanding between gay and non-gay communities ever since and has presented its award-winning Community Concert Series featuring major wind band repertoire since 1993, including its nationally renowned Dance-Along Nutcracker®.
Bands Across the Sea is the first installment of the 2008-08 Community Concert Series, a series of free pops-style concerts produced since 1993 by the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, the Official Band of the City of San Francisco . The SFLGFB is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, proud to be sponsored in part by Grants for the Arts of the San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, the San Francisco Arts Commission and the Jon Sims Endowment Fund for the Arts.
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