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The Michigan City Municipal Band (MCMB) will begin its 158th season on Thursday, June 4, 7:30p, at the Guy F. Foreman Bicentennial Amphitheater in Washington Park. The MCMB is sponsored by the City of Michigan City.

The MCMB’s 158th season will consist of ten free concerts, beginning June 4, and ending August 6. The band plays a wide variety of music, with concerts designed to entertain audience members of all ages. The concerts last about an hour. The MCMB also plays for the annual Memorial Day ceremony at Greenwood Cemetery, and in the Michigan City Summer Festival Parade.

The MCMB is pleased to announce that our newly-appointed assistant conductor is Frank Gast. Mr. Gast serves as director of bands at Michigan City High School, and also plays trumpet in the MCMB. Quincy Ford served as the MCMB assistant conductor from 2014-2025. Mr. Ford will continue conducting the MCMB in the annual Summer Festival Parade, and he will maintain his position as the MCMB’s principal saxophone.

Highlights of the MCMB summer concert series include special guest soloists and two commissions by acclaimed composers. Guest artists will be MSG. Hiram Diaz, euphonium, and MSG. Brandon Eubank, trumpet, from the US Marine Band (July 23); Michelle Howisen, soprano (July 9); Anne Marie Bice, soprano (June 11, August 6), JD Flynn, baritone saxophone (June 4). The June 18 concert will celebrate Juneteenth, and the July 2 concert will have a special focus on the USA Semiquincentennial. Other soloists and special events will be announced during the season.

The MCMB will present the premieres of two commissions:

Portraits of Joy by Edna Alejandra Longoria (June 4 and again on July 23)

Variations on La Comparsa for euphonium and band by Dennis Llinas (July 23)

Edna Alejandra Longoria is a versatile composer from Texas. Portraits of Joy was “inspired by the spirit of Michigan City and her soon-to-be-born daughter Elisa.” Mrs. Longoria imagined walking through Washington Park at various times of the year, watching children play, experiencing the Festival of Lights, admiring the beauty of sunrise over the lake, and hearing the historic Michigan City Municipal Band.

Dennis Llinas is a Cuban/Colombian composer and conductor who is serving as director of bands at the University of Oregon. He’s appeared professionally around the world, including last January in Fort Wayne, where he conducted the Indiana Music Education Association Honor Band. Dr. Llinas grew up hearing and performing the music of the great Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona. Like MSG. Diaz, Dr. Llinas has Cuban heritage. When commissioned by the MCMB to compose a solo for euphonium and band in the form of “theme and variations”, Dr. Llinas immediately knew he would use Ernesto Lecuona’s famous La Comparsa. The title refers to musicians who appear in Latin American community festivals.

In addition to being outstanding performers, many of the MCMB members are successful conductors. Two of those conductors will be featured on individual compositions throughout the summer: Caitlyn Coller (July 30) and Dakota Maze (August 6). The band will also recognize one of its just-retired members—Mary Lee Riley—who played clarinet in the band for 63 years (June 11).

All of the concerts are free, and everyone is welcome. School band members and young children are especially encouraged to attend. Parking on Lake Shore Drive is prohibited. Parking is available in the lots closest to the amphitheater, as well as the Senior Center. Entrance to the park is free with a Michigan City Park sticker; otherwise, there is a reduced parking fee for the band concert.

Jeffrey Scott Doebler is the conductor of the MCMB, and Frank Gast is the assistant conductor. In 2018, Dr. Doebler was named a Distinguished Hoosier by Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb. Dr. Doebler serves as director of music education and bands at Valparaiso University. He is a past president of the Indiana Bandmasters Association and the Indiana Music Education Association. Mr. Gast serves as director of bands at Michigan City High School.

The band’s announcer is Rick Carlson.

Thursday, August 10, 2023 Concert

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The tenth and final concert of the 155th season of the Michigan City Municipal Band (MCMB) will be held Thursday, August 10, 7:30p, at the Guy F. Foreman Bicentennial Amphitheater in Washington Park. The concert will feature a great variety of music, including compositions by Guy Foreman and John Philip Sousa.

The August 10 concert repertoire will be:

Castle House Rag by James Reese Europe
The Bonsai Tree by Julie Giroux
Take on Me arr. Paul Murtha
Singing Sands Overture by Guy Foreman
Mars and Venus from Looking Upward Suite by John Philip Sousa
Mi Nata by Jose Quesada
The Golden Mustang Concert March by Michael Boo
Motown Revue arr. Paul Murtha
Audience sing-along: America, the Beautiful arr. Carmen Dragon
The Stars and Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa

Lt. James Reese EuropeJames Reese Europe was the first African American bandmaster in the US Army. Before World War I, Mr. Europe was a successful band leader and composer in the USA, earning the nickname “The King of Jazz”, and he led the first concert by African Americans at Carnegie Hall in 1912. Maestro Europe went on to lead a renowned military band in Europe during World War I. Upon his death in 1919, Lieutenant Europe was the first African American in New York City to have a public funeral, and he was then laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. Castle House Rag showcases the Ragtime style. The United States military band of Lieutenant James Reese Europe is believed to have played the first Ragtime music in France.

The Bonsai Tree honors a 500-year-old Bonsai tree that is considered one of Japan’s treasures. Composer Julie Giroux received her formal education from Louisiana State University and Boston University. In 1985, she began composing, orchestrating, and conducting music for television and films. When Ms. Giroux won her first Emmy Award, she was the first woman, and the youngest person ever, to win the award in that category. The Bonsai Tree demonstrates the beautiful blended tones of the concert band.

Take on Me is the classic 1984 pop tune by the Norwegian synth-pop band A-ha. It accompanied a ground-breaking music video.

Guy Forrest Foreman was perhaps the most important part of the legacy of the Michigan City Municipal Band. He conducted the band for 60 of its first 133 years. Singing Sands Overture was written in 1955, and was the fifth of Dr. Foreman’s seven works to be published by Belwin. Maestro Foreman wrote that Singing Sands Overture was “named for the famous singing sands to be found on the beaches of the Indiana Dunes at the foot of Lake Michigan. The term singing sands comes from the musical murmuring of the countless grains of sand as they are continuously being shifted about by the lake breezes.”

John Philip Sousa led the US Marine Band for 12 years, then went on toContinue reading→

The Star-Spangled Banner

The Star-Spangled Banner

Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

6-11-26 – A Patriotic Festival

A Patriotic Festival Sing Along

I’M A YANKEE DOODLE DANDY

I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy,
A Yankee Doodle, do or die:
A real live nephew of my Uncle Sam,
Born on the Fourth of July.
I’ve got a Yankee Doodle Sweetheart,
She’s my Yankee Doodle joy:
Yankee Doodle came to London,
Just to ride the ponies.
I am a Yankee Doodle boy.

AMERICA (MY COUNTRY ‘TIS OF THEE)

My country, ‘tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the Pilgrim’s pride:
From ev’ry mountainside,
Let freedom ring.

AMERICA, THE BEAUTIFUL

O Beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain;
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee.
And crown thy good with brotherhood
from sea to shining sea.

BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC

Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!
Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!
Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!
His truth is marching on!

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