Christian Amonson: Is a Virtual Concert Band Right for Your Band?
You may not recognize the name Christian Amonson; however, I know you will recognize his work. Christian was a lead recording engineer in Washington DC for the United States Marine Band, The President's Own. One of his last projects was working with the world renowned band in recording all of the Sousa marches. He hass also had the opportunity to work with world class ensembles like the Chicago Symphony and the Baltimore Symphony. He is an amazing recording engineer!
Just before things began to shut down, Christian moved to LA To develop his recording business, arts laureate. None of us could have foreseen the closure of everything. Since that time, Christian and his team at arts laureate have been providing an amazing service to directors all over the US In developing virtual ensembles for choirs, bands, and jazz ensembles.
In a recent interview with Matt Ingelson, we talked about the virtual band experience. One of my biggest takeaways, was realizing how in depth a project like this really is. Many of you may be looking to give your students the virtual band experience, however a project of that magnitude may be too in-depth for you.
Christian and his team at arts laureate have a solution for you. I do want to mention that after the interview Christian and I were talking about the business. He is far too humble to bring it up himself but I thought it was important to point out that during all of this , Christian has been going without a salary so that he can pay his employees. Not only do these projects provide an amazing virtual experience for students, it is helping a lot of people in the music industry.
