{"id":3236,"date":"2026-02-28T14:46:51","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T14:46:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/falconefestival.org\/website_b1f48886\/?page_id=3236"},"modified":"2026-02-28T14:46:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T14:46:52","slug":"early-history-of-the-falcone-festival","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/falconefestival.org\/website_b1f48886\/about-dr-leonard-falcone\/early-history-of-the-falcone-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Early History of the Falcone Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"yoast-breadcrumbs\"><span><span><a href=\"https:\/\/falconefestival.org\/website_b1f48886\/\">Home<\/a><\/span> \u00bb <span><a href=\"https:\/\/falconefestival.org\/website_b1f48886\/about-dr-leonard-falcone\/\">Leonard Falcone Legacy<\/a><\/span> \u00bb <span class=\"breadcrumb_last\" aria-current=\"page\">Early History of the Falcone Festival<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-custom-color-5-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-4f0cf1255fd6734ad7bcdbb38f2ed6a7\" style=\"font-size:40px;font-style:normal;font-weight:500\">Early History of the Leonard Falcone Festival<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-6c531013 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<p class=\"has-metropolis-font-family\" style=\"font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-weight:500;letter-spacing:1px\">MENU <span class=\"wp-rich-text-font-awesome-icon wp-font-awesome-icon\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"fas\" data-icon=\"plus\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-plus \" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 448 512\" 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\n\t\t\t\tdata-wp-bind--aria-modal=\"state.ariaModal\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-wp-bind--aria-label=\"state.ariaLabel\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-wp-bind--role=\"state.roleAttribute\"\n\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<button aria-label=\"Close menu\" class=\"wp-block-navigation__responsive-container-close\" \n\t\t\t\tdata-wp-on--click=\"actions.closeMenuOnClick\"\n\t\t\t><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"m13.06 12 6.47-6.47-1.06-1.06L12 10.94 5.53 4.47 4.47 5.53 10.94 12l-6.47 6.47 1.06 1.06L12 13.06l6.47 6.47 1.06-1.06L13.06 12Z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-navigation__responsive-container-content\" \n\t\t\t\tdata-wp-watch=\"callbacks.focusFirstElement\"\n\t\t\t id=\"modal-1-content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"wp-block-navigation__container has-medium-font-size is-responsive items-justified-center is-vertical wp-block-navigation has-medium-font-size\"><li class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-navigation-item wp-block-navigation-link\"><a class=\"wp-block-navigation-item__content\"  href=\"https:\/\/falconefestival.org\/website_b1f48886\/about-dr-leonard-falcone\/\"><span class=\"wp-block-navigation-item__label\">Leonard Falcone Legacy<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-navigation-item wp-block-navigation-link has-medium-font-size\"><a class=\"wp-block-navigation-item__content\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.falconefestival.org\/website_b1f48886\/about-dr-leonard-falcone\/the-artistry-of-leonard-falcone-recording\/\"><span class=\"wp-block-navigation-item__label\">The Artistry of Leonard Falcone Recording<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-navigation-item wp-block-navigation-link has-medium-font-size\"><a class=\"wp-block-navigation-item__content\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.falconefestival.org\/website_b1f48886\/about-dr-leonard-falcone\/remembrances\/\"><span class=\"wp-block-navigation-item__label\">Remembrances<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-navigation-item wp-block-navigation-link has-medium-font-size\"><a class=\"wp-block-navigation-item__content\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.falconefestival.org\/website_b1f48886\/about-dr-leonard-falcone\/msu-tribute-to-leonard-falcone\/\"><span class=\"wp-block-navigation-item__label\">Tribute to Leonard Falcone<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-navigation-item wp-block-navigation-link\"><a class=\"wp-block-navigation-item__content\"  href=\"https:\/\/falconefestival.org\/website_b1f48886\/about-dr-leonard-falcone\/early-history-of-the-falcone-festival\/\"><span class=\"wp-block-navigation-item__label\">Early Festival History<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-navigation-item wp-block-navigation-link has-medium-font-size\"><a class=\"wp-block-navigation-item__content\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.falconefestival.org\/website_b1f48886\/about-dr-leonard-falcone\/solid-brass-the-leonard-falcone-story\/\"><span class=\"wp-block-navigation-item__label\">Solid Brass: The Leonard Falcone Story<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-navigation-item wp-block-navigation-link has-medium-font-size\"><a class=\"wp-block-navigation-item__content\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.falconefestival.org\/website_b1f48886\/about-dr-leonard-falcone\/farewell-to-beryl-falcone\/\"><span class=\"wp-block-navigation-item__label\">Farewell to Beryl Falcone<\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/nav><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The founders<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Following the death of&nbsp;Dr.&nbsp;Leonard Falcone in 1985, Fritz Stansell, Seymour Okun, Henry Nelson, and Eldon&nbsp;Rosegart&nbsp;conceived of and began the&nbsp;Falcone&nbsp;Festival as a tangible,&nbsp;enduring way to honor&nbsp;his&nbsp;memory. Each of these four&nbsp;had studied with&nbsp;Leonard Falcone at Michigan State University and&nbsp;had maintained&nbsp;a professional and personal relationship with him throughout&nbsp;their careers as musicians and educators.&nbsp;While these four became known as the Founders of the Falcone Festival, it took many other people to foster the fledgling organization, leading to the&nbsp;Festival\u2019s&nbsp;long-term success.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">In 2025, the Board of Directors added three additional people to the list of Festival Founders: Beryl Falcone (wife of Leonard Falcone and&nbsp;Festival&nbsp;board member until her passing in 2015), Donald Flickinger (music educator,&nbsp;Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp&nbsp;administrator,&nbsp;and&nbsp;Festival&nbsp;board member until 2005), and Martin Erickson (past Falcone student,&nbsp;U.S.&nbsp;Navy Band principal tubist,&nbsp;and&nbsp;Falcone&nbsp;board member from the&nbsp;beginning). This group also lent their support and hard work to make this memorial project a long-standing success in the first year and well beyond. Beryl kept up&nbsp;the&nbsp;personal relationships&nbsp;she and&nbsp;Leonard&nbsp;had built&nbsp;with the Michigan State University School of Music (later College of Music)&nbsp;and&nbsp;Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, as well as the communities of people working for and supporting these organizations.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>1986<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Fritz Stansell\u2014who founded Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp (BLFAC), where Leonard&nbsp;had taught&nbsp;high school students for many summers\u2014offered the camp as the venue for the new competition.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">That first year (1986) the founders worked&nbsp;very hard&nbsp;to publicize the competition (at that&nbsp;time for&nbsp;euphonium only) and develop the criteria, procedures, and&nbsp;logistics. Artist Level first place award was $1000 plus a performance with the Blue Lake Festival Band conducted by Donald Flickinger, with awards for second place ($500) and third place ($200). Awards for Student Level were $300-first place and $150-second place. Donald&nbsp;Flickinger\u2019s leadership and inclusion of the Blue Lake Festival Band to&nbsp;accompany&nbsp;the Euphonium Artist final round was an&nbsp;additional&nbsp;unique incentive for the competitors.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">In 1986 there were 34 total entries (24 artists and 10 students) with five artist and three student competitors reaching the semi-final round at Blue Lake. The competitors were able to choose the solo they wished to perform in addition to the required pieces in the screened first rounds. The budget for the entire Festival was a modest $8,000. Roger Behrend served as the&nbsp;chairman&nbsp;of adjudicators which numbered a total of five judges. The U.S.&nbsp;Navy Tuba-Euphonium Quartet (Roger Behrend, Martin Erickson, John Bowman, and Keith&nbsp;Mehlan) opened the competition with a concert. Behrend, Erickson, Bowman, and Brian Bowman of the U.S.&nbsp;Air Force Band were soloists with the Festival Band under the&nbsp;direction of Donald Flickinger. The very first winners\u2014on Saturday, July 12, 1986\u2014were Angie Hunter, Artist Level, and Lance LaDuke, Student Level.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Initial honorary board members helped publicize the&nbsp;Festival&nbsp;among their colleagues and students&nbsp;and also&nbsp;participated&nbsp;in the early days of fund-raising. However, it was Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp and the small Executive Committee, plus Donald Flickinger and Beryl Falcone that kept the&nbsp;Festival&nbsp;going in those early years. Martin&nbsp;Erickson&nbsp;(who also had a connection to the launch of BLFAC in the 1960s)&nbsp;became&nbsp;increasingly involved with Festival decisions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Significant developments since&nbsp;inception<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">The Executive Committee worked hard in the&nbsp;Festival\u2019s&nbsp;first years to&nbsp;consolidate&nbsp;job responsibilities, develop rules for the competition, and raise funds so the competition could continue.&nbsp;The&nbsp;objectives&nbsp;developed for the Falcone Festival have&nbsp;remained&nbsp;fairly constant&nbsp;over the years, as has the importance of an international presence.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">In&nbsp;1987<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>Artist Level awards were increased to $1,500, $700, and $400; and Student Level to $400, $200, and $100. Awards were again adjusted in 1988: Artist Level, $1500, $700, and $400; Student Level, $800, $400, and $200;&nbsp;and&nbsp;they&nbsp;continue to be adjusted.&nbsp;Through the first 40 years of the festival, over $400,000 in total prize money has been awarded.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">The success and promotion of the&nbsp;initial&nbsp;Festival led to enhanced interest and entrants from the second year onward, with several international competitors&nbsp;participating. In particular, the&nbsp;Festival&nbsp;built an early&nbsp;connection&nbsp;with Japanese competitors&nbsp;that continues to the present. In the Festival\u2019s second year, Euphonium-Tuba Day was added to the schedule&nbsp;in order to&nbsp;develop support among local Michigan euphonium and tuba players.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">In 1991, the Festival Board supplemented the competition with&nbsp;additional&nbsp;activities including lessons, ensembles, master classes, and clinics, which were&nbsp;generally led&nbsp;by the adjudication panel.&nbsp;Then&nbsp;in 1996,&nbsp;Artist and Student level Tuba divisions&nbsp;were added&nbsp;to the competition.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">At Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, the Festival&nbsp;utilized&nbsp;a variety of facilities for competition purposes, including Stewart Shell, the Farmhouse, Niblock Hall, and Kresge Lodge. In 1999, the opening of the camp\u2019s Student Arts Center allowed the&nbsp;Festival&nbsp;to&nbsp;consolidate&nbsp;and upgrade performance venues in a large and air-conditioned facility.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Several other individuals began Festival board service during the first decade of operation, with many still involved&nbsp;to&nbsp;this day. Earle Louder&nbsp;(Falcone board member from 1988-2011)&nbsp;was a frequent adjudicator and led the music selection process. Tom Broka&nbsp;(Falcone board member from 1992-2024) served&nbsp;as Vice President for several decades. Bill and Jim Gray&nbsp;(Falcone board members from 1989-1998)&nbsp;handled Festival&nbsp;logistics&nbsp;from 1989-1995&nbsp;and then&nbsp;used&nbsp;Festival connections to help launch the Brass Band of Battle Creek.&nbsp;Michael Schott (1990-1999) and David Cleveland (1994-2005) were both former Michigan State&nbsp;euphonium students who had prominent roles on the board.&nbsp;Jerry Young&nbsp;(Falcone board member from 1988-2025)&nbsp;was a frequent adjudicator and provided helpful counsel for many years. Luis Maldonado, an early artist euphonium winner, became heavily involved in operations in the early 1990\u2019s. Rod Ellis&nbsp;(Falcone board member from 1989-2021)&nbsp;would serve as long time Festival treasurer, and spearheaded efforts to&nbsp;establish&nbsp;our endowment fund. Philip Sinder&nbsp;(Falcone board member since 1995)&nbsp;was an early Festival adjudicator and guest&nbsp;artist and&nbsp;would later serve as Festival President for twenty years&nbsp;(2005-2025). Cecelia&nbsp;Falcone (daughter of Leonard and Beryl)&nbsp;remains&nbsp;active in supporting and attending the event each year. Other board members to join in the 1990\u2019s and provide decades of service include Sue Topping, Kenneth \u201cPete\u201d Marvin, Doug&nbsp;Goodrich,&nbsp;Jane Goodrich, and Mark Cox.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">And then, in 2004, the Falcone Festival was incorporated under its own name, The Leonard Falcone International Euphonium and Tuba Festival, as an educational non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Donald Flickinger, serving as President of the Festival, worked with&nbsp;particular diligence, along with efforts of the Board of Directors, to complete all the necessary documentation for this to occur.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Legacy<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">One of the&nbsp;objectives&nbsp;of the&nbsp;Festival&nbsp;is to encourage the use of new compositions for euphonium and tuba. This process began in 1988 with the \u201cConcertpiece\u201d for euphonium by James Niblock, followed by the \u201cBlue Lake Fantasies\u201d for euphonium by David Gillingham in 1995. The commissioning of new works, as well as&nbsp;creating&nbsp;several composition contests, has resulted in a wide spectrum of new works featuring euphonium and tuba.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">The&nbsp;strong foundation&nbsp;of&nbsp;objectives&nbsp;and procedures set in place by the Festival Founders, along with the continued support of Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, has allowed&nbsp;the Leonard Falcone International Euphonium and Tuba Festival&nbsp;to grow steadily and remain a fine tribute to Dr. Leonard Falcone.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Early History of the Leonard Falcone Festival The founders&nbsp; Following the death of&nbsp;Dr.&nbsp;Leonard Falcone in 1985, Fritz Stansell, Seymour Okun, Henry Nelson, and Eldon&nbsp;Rosegart&nbsp;conceived of and began the&nbsp;Falcone&nbsp;Festival as a tangible,&nbsp;enduring way to honor&nbsp;his&nbsp;memory. Each of these four&nbsp;had studied with&nbsp;Leonard Falcone at Michigan State University and&nbsp;had maintained&nbsp;a professional and personal relationship with him throughout&nbsp;their careers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":613,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-full-width","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3236","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Early History of the Falcone Festival - Leonard Falcone International Euphonium &amp; Tuba Festival<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/falconefestival.org\/website_b1f48886\/about-dr-leonard-falcone\/early-history-of-the-falcone-festival\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Early History of the Falcone Festival - Leonard Falcone International Euphonium &amp; Tuba Festival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Early History of the Leonard Falcone Festival The founders&nbsp; Following the death of&nbsp;Dr.&nbsp;Leonard Falcone in 1985, Fritz Stansell, Seymour Okun, Henry Nelson, and Eldon&nbsp;Rosegart&nbsp;conceived of and began the&nbsp;Falcone&nbsp;Festival as a tangible,&nbsp;enduring way to honor&nbsp;his&nbsp;memory. 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