The American Wind Symphony Orchestra has been making cultural waves on the waterways of the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and northern Europe for 58 years. In the late ‘50s and ‘60s the AWSO ‘s floating concert stage was not self-propelled, and had to be towed from tour city to tour city. Passing tugboat captains would kindly add Point Counterpoint I to their fleet of barges. These early tours were primarily on the Ohio, Cumberland, Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers.
Two other vessels made appearances. 1961 saw the AWSO on the Thames River in London, performing from a newly designed float – the first of Louis I. Kahn’s creations for the floating orchestra. In the early ‘70s the orchestra also performed from a quaint, round boat on the Hudson and East Rivers in New York, partnering with Pete Seeger and his “Clearwater” sloop to point up the need to clean and revitalize these vital waterways.
With the inauguration of the self-propelled Point Counterpoint II as a Bicentennial feature in 1976, the AWSO’s horizons widened to include the Great Lakes, the Intracoastal Waterways along the Gulf of Mexico and the East Coast, Long Island Sound and the historic Erie Barge Canal – as well as rivers as farflung as the Missouri, the Arkansas, the Atchafalaya and the Chattahoochee. And as the ‘80s neared an end, Europe beckoned. 1989 and 1990 found the AWSO musicians thrilling audiences from Paris to London to Leningrad. Up the Bay of Bothnia they sailed, to Finnish towns not far from the Arctic Circle; and across the Irish Sea to serenade Irish crowds who thronged to the riverside in rain or shine.
The American Wind Symphony Orchestra has indeed been an ambassador of music, the visual and dramatic arts – and a voice reminding all of the fragile beauty of our endangered natural world.
POINT COUNTERPOINT II
PORTS OF CALL, 1976-2009
Albany, NY
Elizabeth,PA
Manitowoc, WI
Portsmouth, VA
Albion, NY
Apalachicola, FL
Arecibo, PUERTO RICO
Ashland, KY
Ashland, WI
Ashtabula, OH
Bainbridge, GA
Baldwinsville, NY
Baltimore, MD
Bay City, MI
Beaufort, NC
Beaufort, SC
Beaumont, TX
Beaver, PA
Belfast, NORTHERN IRELAND
Belmont, NJ
Belpre, OH
Biloxi, MS
Block Island, RI
Boca Raton, FL
Boston, MA
Brandenburg, KY
Bridgeport, CT
Bristol, PA
Brownsville, TX
Brunswick, GA
Buffalo, NY
Burlington, IA
California, PA
Cambridge, MD
Canajoharie, NY
Cape Girardeau, MO
Cape May, NJ
Carrollton, KY
Charleston, SC
Charleston, WV
Charlevoix, MI
Chattahoochee, FL
Chattanooga, TN
Cincinnati, OH
Clarksville, TN
Clearwater, FL
Cleveland, OH
Clinton, IA
Conflans-Ste.-Honorine, FRANCE
Clyde, NY
Cobh, IRELAND
Cocoa, FL
Columbus, GA
Columbus, MS
Conneaut, OH
Cork, IRELAND
Croton-on-Hudson, NY
Davenport, IA
Decatur, AL
Demopolis, AL
Derry, NORTHERN IRELAND
Detroit, MI
Dobbs Ferry, NY
Dordrecht, NETHERLANDS
Drammen, NORWAY
Dublin, IRELAND
Dubuque, IA
Duluth, MN
Dunkirk, NY
Dusseldorf, GERMANY
East Greenwich, RI
East Liverpool, OH
Erie, PA
Eufala, AL
Evansville, IN
Fall River, MA
Fairmont, WV
Fairport Harbor, OH
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Fort Myers, FL
Fort Pierce, FL
Fort Walton, FL
Fulton, NY
Geneva, NY
Glasgow, SCOTLAND
Goderich, ONTARIO
Grand Haven, MI
Green Bay, WI
Greenwich, CT
Groton, CT
Guantanamo Bay, CUBA
Gulfport, MS
Hamburg, GERMANY
Hamilton, ONT
Hannibal, MO
Hastings, MN
Havana, IL
Helena, AR
Helsinki, FINLAND
Henderson, KY
Hendersonville, TN
Heusden, NETHERLANDS
Hickman, KY
Holland, MI
Hollywood, FL
Houghton, MI
Houma, LA
Hudson, NY
Huntington, WV
Ilion, NY
Jefferson City, MO
Jeffersonville, IN
Jersey City, NJ
Kalmar, SWEDEN
Kansas City, MO
Kemi, FINLAND
Keokuk, IA
Kiel, GERMANY
Kingston, NY
Kingston, JAMAICA
Kingston, ONTARIO
Kittanning, PA
Kokkola, FINLAND
Kotka, FINLAND
LaCrosse, WI
Lake Charles, LA
Lapeenranta, FINLAND
Larvik, NORWAY
Leningrad (St. Petersburg), RUSSIA
Liege, BELGIUM
Little Falls, NY
Little Rock, AR
Liverpool, ENGLAND
Lockport, NY
London, ENGLAND
Lorain, OH
Maastricht, NETHERLANDS
Mackinaw City, MI
Malmo, SWEDEN
Manistique, MI
Marietta, OH
Mariehamn, FINLAND
Marquette, MI
Mayaguez, PUERTO RICO
Maysville, KY
McKeesport, PA
Medina, NY
Memphis, TN
Metropolis, IL
Middletown, CT
Miami, FL
Mobile, AL
Monroe, MI
Montego Bay, JAMAICA
Morgantown, WV
Morgan City, LA
Morris, IL
Moundsville, WV
Moss, NORWAY
Mt. Clemens, MI
Muscatine, IA
Muskegon, MI
Nashville, TN
New Albany, IN
New Athens, IL
New Bern, NC
New Castle, DE
New Haven, CT
New London, CT
New Martinsville, WV
New Orleans, LA
New Rochelle, NY
New York, NY
Norfolk, VA
North Kingston, RI
Northport, NY
Oakmont, PA
Ocean Springs, MS
Odense, DENMARK
Old Saybrook, CT
Omaha, NE
Oslo, NORWAY
Oswego, NY
Ottawa, IL
Owensboro, KY
Paducah, KY
Palmyra, NY
Panama City, FL
Paris, FRANCE
Parkersburg, WV
Pascagoula, MS
Peekskill, NY
Pekin, IL
Pensacola, FL
Peoria, IL
Peru, IL
Petoskey, MI
Philadelphia, PA
Phoenix, NY
Pine Bluff, AR
Pittsburgh, PA
Ponce, PUERTO RICO
Port Antonio, JAMAICA
Port Arthur, TX
Port Huron, MI
Port Lavaca, TX
Port Stanley, ONTARIO
Portsmouth, NH
Providence, RI
Quincy, IL
Racine, WI
Ravenswood, WV
Red Wing, MN
Rices Landing, PA
Riverhead, NY
Rochester, PA
Rochester, NY
Rogers City, MI
Roosevelt Roads, PUERTO RICO
Rotterdam, NETHERLANDS
Rouen, FRANCE
Sackets Harbor, NY
Sag Harbor, NY
St. Catharines, ONT
Trenton, NJ
Trenton, ONT
Troy, NY
St. Louis, MO
St. Joseph, MO
St. Marys, WV
St. Mary’s County, MD
Tupelo, MS
Turku, FINLAND
Utica, NY
St. Petersburg, FL
Saginaw, MI
Salem, MA
San Juan, PUERTO RICO
Sault Ste. Marie, ONT
Seneca Falls, NY
Sewickley, PA
Sheboygan, WI
South Haven, MI
South Padre Island, TX
South Pittsburg, TN
Stillwater, MN
Stockholm, SWEDEN
Stratford, CT
Stuart, FL
Sturgeon Bay, WI
Swansea, WALES
Sylvan Beach, NY
Syracuse, NY
Tampa, FL
Tarentum, PA
Tell City, IN
Tonawanda, NY
Vaasa, FINLAND
Valenciennes, FRANCE
Venlo, NETHERLANDS
Vevay, IN
Victoria, TX
Washington, DC
Waterford, IRELAND
Weirton, WV
West Palm Beach, FL
Wheeling, WV
Wilmington, DE
Wilmington, NC
Windsor, ONT
Winona, MN
Yonkers, NY
Toronto, ON