A graduate of the Mason Gross School of the Arts played a key role in one aspect of the formal events surrounding the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter on Jan. 9 – the funeral hymn that was performed as the casket was brought up the stairs to the National Cathedral. Army Staff Sgt. Andrew Kosinski was tasked with composing the piece, which had to take into account how the frigid temperatures would impact the performance by the musicians of the U.S. Army band.
Kosinski, a 2020 graduate in composition and trumpet performance at Mason Gross, went on to earn his masters from John Hopkins University’s Peabody Institute of Music. He turned down a scholarship offer to pursue a PhD at the University of Georgia and instead chose to accept the position with the army band. In this interview, A Tempo host Rachel Katz chats with him about the experience of writing the piece and his duties with the band.
(An excerpt of this interview aired on A Tempo on Jan. 11)
