The New York Staff Band enjoys the prestige as the first ‘staff band’ in Salvation Army [SA] music history, the NYSB meets the challenge of maintaining the highest standards of musical practice combined with its Christian ministry. The NYSB has been and continues to be a trailblazer in SA and brass band music making. Under the direction of Ronald Waiksnoris as its Bandmaster, the NYSB includes a host of renown musicians who are extremely successful soloists and recording artists.
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LEADERSHIP
Territorial Leaders Commissioners Barry C. & Sue Swanson
Executive Officer Lt Colonel Kenneth W. Maynor
Bandmaster Ronald Waiksnoris
Deputy Bandmaster Gordon Ward
Band Manager Derek W. Lance
Band Chorus Leader Dorothy Gates
Band Sergeant Major A. Philip Ferreira
Treasurer/Property Manager Charles F. Olsen, Jr.
Librarian Thomas Scheibner
Development Consultant Lindsay Evans
2015-2016 BAND PERSONNEL
SOPRANO CORNET Christopher Ward
SOLO CORNET Gordon Ward Derek W. Lance Douglas Berry Lt. Colonel Kathleen Steele
FIRST CORNET Karen Shaffstall Kenneth Kirby Peter Vaughan
SECOND CORNET Major Steve Ditmer Major Tom Dressler
FLUGELHORN Harrison Lubin
SOLO HORN Major Donald Spencer
FIRST HORN Matthew Hodgson
SECOND HORN Siran Farrar
FIRST BARITONE Dean Farrar
SECOND BARITONE Major A. Philip Ferreira
FIRST TROMBONE Matthew Luhn Dorothy Gates
SECOND TROMBONE Lorena Simmonds – Lance Lindsay Evans
BASS TROMBONE Warren Smith, Jr.
EUPHONIUM Ryan McCrudden Aaron Vanderweele
E-FLAT TUBAS Simon Morton Christopher Webster
B-FLAT TUBAS Andrew Dressler Aaron Harris
PERCUSSION Andrew Boynton Thomas Scheibner Jelani Weekes
COLOR SERGEANT Charles F. Olsen Jr.
MULTIMEDIA SPECIALIST Mark Gates
DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANT EMERITUS Major Charles F. Olsen (R)
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… This band focused on Christian mission does not get bogged down in matters of protocol, social status, or the latest fad. The NYSB is just as comfortable playing at an Adult Rehabilitation Center or local SA community center as it is at a fancy dinner honoring donors to the SA, or giving sacred concerts in some of the world’s finest venues and with the finest musicians. Their music making serves as an arm of the Salvation Army’s compassionate ministry while keeping true to the highest purposes of sacred music—giving praise and glory to God.
The NYSB has had a global impact, and while its performances are predominantly in New York, they have performed in some of the world’s most prestigious venues to include: Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Buckingham Palace Forecourt, Carnegie Music Hall, Disneyworld, Madison Square Garden, Metropolitan Opera House (NYC), The National Auditorium (Washington, D.C.), New York Central Park Mall, Roy Thomson Hall (Toronto), Royal Albert Hall (London), Sydney Opera House (Australia), Town Hall (NYC), United Nations, USS Arizona Memorial (Pearl Harbor), Wall Street (NYC), World’s Fairs, Yankee Stadium, Yuinchokin Hall (Tokyo).
The band has visited the United Kingdom more than eight times, toured Europe and Scandinavia on multiple occasions, traveled several times to the Far East, Australia, and New Zealand, been across the border into Canada on more than 20 occasions, and performed coast to coast in the USA. In all of this, added to a pace-setting, unprecedented series of recordings, they have played a major, significant role in the nurturing and encouragement of the worldwide brass band community and especially the music program of The Salvation Army.
Source: The New York Staff Band website.