Large crowd packs Cape Girardeau riverfront for American Wind Symphony's final concert

Tuesday evening's farewell performance of the American Wind Symphony Orchestra in Cape Girardeau marked the end of an era for conductor Robert Austin Boudreau and his troupe.

The orchestra performed for a crowd that Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director Chuck Martin estimated to be around 2,500. The audience filled the amphitheater seating between the floating stage and the floodwall and extended well beyond the floodgates at Themis Street and Broadway.

A large portion of the audience was made up of students who were admitted free to the concert. Boudreau, a promoter of music education, invited a group of students to sit directly in front of the stage on the barge separating the boat and the bank of the river.

Central senior Rachel Bagot, a drum major with the Central marching band, sat in a section with many of her bandmates. She said band members were encouraged by their director, Neil Casey, to attend.

"Our marching band has a strong connection to classical music," Bagot said, noting the band plays many classical selections in the marching shows.

Boudreau, who has led the orchestra since he founded it in 1957, has announced that this will be its final season. Since Cape Girardeau was the last destination on this year's 15-city tour, Tuesday's season-ending performance was the last for the orchestra, although several smaller groups will be playing chamber concerts in the area today.

Boudreau saluted Cape Girardeau dentist Dan Cotner for his humanitarian work in volunteering to provide dental services to the poor in developing countries. Cotner, a trombone player, was invited to the stage to stand at the conductor's right hand while the orchestra performed Concerto for Bass Trombone.

More than 1,500 musicians have performed in the symphony, which Boudreau started as a means to combine his love for the water and his passions for music and music education.

Though Tuesday was the last performance of the orchestra, more musical destinations and adventures lie ahead for Boudreau and the floating arts center Point Counterpoint II.

Boudreau is not only conductor of the orchestra but also captain of Point Counterpoint II, which he has piloted more than half a million miles since its construction and launch as a bicentennial project in 1976. He has never missed an American Wind Symphony Orchestra performance.

After spending some time in dry dock at Houma, La. for rejuvenation, the 195-foot vessel will be the base for Boudreau's next project -- a pilot program in public school districts in eight Louisiana parishes. He hopes the music education program will help turn around a dropout rate that has risen by 30 percent in only a few years. Boudreau believes the rise in the dropout rate and the reduction and elimination of music programs in the schools is no coincidence.

Boudreau, who was the son of a Massachusetts chicken farmer and factory worker, knows the role music can play in inspiring children. After learning to play trumpet as a youth, Boudreau earned degrees at Juilliard and at the Paris Conservatory.

"Without music, I'd probably be a pretty good chicken farmer," Boudreau said.

Boudreau has already lined up a high-profile trip for Point Counterpoint II and the Louisiana students who become his proteges -- a visit to Havana, Cuba, in 2010.