Concordia College

The Concordia Cobber Band

When it comes to performance variety, look no further than The Concordia Cobber Band. This popular ensemble on campus plays at a wide variety of functions, from sporting events and worship services to campus events and local and regional concerts. The student musicians are just as diverse as the performance opportunities, covering the entire spectrum of majors and pursing just as many careers. Members of The Concordia Cobber Band form to create the Concordia Cobber Pep Band that plays at home athletic events.
 
Performances in 2008-2009 include PRISM 2008 in collaboration with The Concordia Band, the 6th annual Composers Concert featuring music of Israel and the Middle East (including the premiere of a commissioned work by Mark Camphouse) and the annual spring concert featuring a wide variety of music from many styles. In addition, The Concordia Cobber Band will be performing outreach concerts in area public schools sponsored by a grant from the Lake Agassiz Regional Arts Council.

Director

Dr. Nathaniel Dickey serves on Concordia’s faculty as assistant professor of low brass and director of The Concordia Cobber Band. A versatile performer and conductor, Dickey has performed at Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, Boston Symphony Hall and the Ordway in St. Paul, among other venues throughout the United States and abroad.

He was a founding member of both the Orion Trombone Quartet (First Prize winners at the Coleman Chamber Music Competition) and the Brass Mosaic, which performed its New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. Dickey serves as principal trombonist of the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra and has performed with the IRIS Orchestra, Minnesota Opera, and Boston Ballet, among numerous other professional orchestras. In addition, he currently plays lead trombone with the Jazz Arts Group of Fargo-Moorhead and performs with the Post-Traumatic Funk Syndrome.

Before coming to Concordia, Dickey served as assistant director of bands at Harvard University, where he directed the Sunday Jazz Band and co-directed the Wind Ensemble and Summer Pops Band. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics and a Bachelor of Music in trombone performance from Oberlin College and a Master of Music in orchestral performance from Rice University. Dickey recently earned a Doctorate in Music, with an emphasis in performance and pedagogy, from the University of Minnesota.