Conway, Patrick

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Conway, Patrick

Conway, Patrick , American bandmaster, conductor, and music educator; b. near Troy, N.Y., July 4, 1867;d. Ithaca, N.Y., June 10, 1929. He received training in cornet from Charles Bates. As a youth, he played in the Homer Band, becoming its director while still in his teens. After attending the Ithaca Cons, of Music and Cornell Univ., he conducted the latter’s Cadet Band (1895–1908). He also founded his own band, which took the name Patrick Conway and his Band in 1908. From 1914 to 1916 he was conductor of the Syracuse (N.Y.) Sym. Orch. In 1916 he became a captain in the U.S. Army Air Service, where he supervised its music program and founded its band. In 1922 he founded the Conway Military Band School of the Ithaca Cons, of Music. Conway was highly regarded as one of America’s leading bandmasters.

—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire