Glenn Miller Orchestra

AN IMPORTANT TRANSITION

NICK HILSCHER

Nick Hilscher has been music director of the Glenn Miller Orchestra from 2012 until the pandemic intervened. Previously, Nick and the band kept an exhausting schedule of appearances seemingly nonstop year-round. They have thrilled thousands of ardent fans from coast-to-coast and across the Pacific to Japan. During the hiatus, Nick naturally turned his attention toward his family. A devoted father and husband, he has perhaps discovered a joy that no amount of adulation can duplicate. It was with great sadness for us but respect for Nick that your Glenn Miller Archives of the University of Colorado Boulder American Music Research Center and your Glenn Miller Birthplace Society, Clarinda, Iowa, learned the news yesterday that he will no longer be music director of the Glenn Miller Orchestra

ERIK STABNAU

However, the band has happily resumed its touring schedule of personal appearances in the United States. Likewise, the GMA and GMBS are pleased to learn that Eric Stabnau is the new musical director of the GMO. Erik has been with the band since 2017. He has filled the tenor saxophone chair once held by the legendary Gordon “Tex” Beneke. Shari Greenwood of the GMBS and yours truly wish Erik Godspeed and great success as he continues a rich musical legacy continuing from the immortal Alton Glenn Miller and including Ray McKinley, Buddy De Franco, Peanuts Hucko, Buddy Morrow, and our GMA Hall of Fame member Larry O’Brien, among others. Furthermore, this is a rich legacy of musical excellence. A quite unique history of artistic professionalism dates to 1937 and Glenn Miller’s first band.

THE LEGACY

Moreover, Nick Hilscher became music director of the Glenn Miller Orchestra at a crucial juncture. As the GMA and especially the GMBS have had to navigate, the “greatest generation” who saw, heard and danced to Glenn Miller’s music were passing the baton to their children, grandchildren and now great-grandchildren. Likewise, the Glenn Miller Orchestra and parent Glenn Miller Productions are colleagues with the GMA and GMBS in a triumvirate devoted to passing the legacy forward. There has been no more enthusiastic and effective messenger than Nick Hilscher. Therefore, friends of Glenn Miller everywhere owe Nick a heartfelt thank you. His handsome voice and vibrant stage presence conceal a keen arranger’s eye and disciplined dedication to the vast and rich Glenn Miller music library. Furthermore, his appreciation for the significance of the music is profound. His is a lasting contribution to the legacy, as Shari and yours truly can attest.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES

During the twenty-first century, beginning with Larry O’Brien’s unmatched dedication and energy and as continued with grace and style by Nick Hilscher, the Glenn Miller Orchestra reached new and exciting levels of achievement, accentuated by key and loyal veteran players including Kevin Sheehan, George Reinhart and Ron Mills. The band performs the Glenn Miller book as well as ever, especially the fresh and seldom-heard nuggets now often featured at performances. Thank you, Nick, for making our lives richer and happier. We will miss you terribly, good friend. And best wishes, Erik, from all of us, for continued success and new opportunities! Everyone also appreciates the work that Charles DeStefano and Greg Parnell are doing to keep the Glenn Miller Orchestra out front and vital. This is an important transition and poignant moment for the entire worldwide Glenn Miller community and legacy. Let us move forward, together, “In the Mood.”

Dennis M. Spragg of the Glenn Miller Archives and Glenn Miller Birthplace Society, is Glenn Miller’s biographer, archivist, and author of the critically acclaimed Glenn Miller Declassified. Learn more about Glenn Miller: