Instrumental Music Director Mark Kraft was invited to be the guest conductor of the United States Army Band, which is generally considered to be the world’s finest concert band. Mark, who has a national reputation as a bandmaster, picked up the baton to lead the musicians in “American Salute,” Morton Gould’s iconic work for concert band. The piece is based on the patriotic tune “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again.” You can view the performance here.

Mark described the challenge this way: “The scoring is very complex, including a portion for Bassoon Quartet, English Horn Solo, Timpani Solo, with dynamic, dramatic mood changes and shifts in tempo. Very few ensembles can perform this work due to its tremendous musical demands.”

Mark added that a few of his former students were in the concert band, which performed with Mark on November 13 in South Brunswick, N.J. The night before the band had played at Carnegie Hall.

“It was a surreal experience to conduct this work with an ensemble of this caliber and history,” Mark said on Wednesday. “It was one of the great thrills of my musical life, and a real privilege and an honor!”