Personnel Bio

Senior Chief Musician Andrew Grenci, bass clarinet, joined the United States Coast Guard Band in 1994. He was the first bass clarinetist to appear as soloist with the Coast Guard Band, performing his own transcription of Fauré’s Elégie in March 2002 and Art Wiggins’ Song and Dance Man in March 2005. In October 2005, Grenci appeared as a soloist and panelist at the first World Bass Clarinet Convention in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. MUCS Grenci regularly appears on the Coast Guard Band Chamber Players series, performing solo repertoire such as the Sonata by Othmar Schoeck, Strata by Donald Martino, Ballade by Heinz Zander, Ballade by Eugène Bozza, Two Rags by Brian Dykstra, along with significant chamber works, such as Leoš Janáček’s Mladí. He has also appeared as clarinet soloist with the Waterbury and Meriden Symphonies performing Weber’s Concertino, Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, and with the Meriden Symphony Chamber Players playing the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings of both Mozart and Brahms. In addition, Grenci plays bass clarinet with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and clarinet with Orchestra New England. Senior Chief Grenci is also an active teacher of clarinet and bass clarinet. He also gives clinics and master classes at area schools, as well as at music camps such as the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Duquesne University, a Master of Music from Yale, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. His principal clarinet teachers were Nestor Koval, Keith Wilson, and Charles Neidich, and he has studied bass clarinet with Dennis Smylie.