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2023 marks the 155th season of the Michigan City Municipal Band.  The 2023 concert series will consist of ten free Thursday concerts, beginning June 8, and ending August 10.  All concerts begin at 7:30p and last about an hour. The band plays a wide variety of music, with concerts designed to entertain audience members of all ages. The MCMB also plays for the annual Memorial Day ceremony at Greenwood Cemetery, and in the Michigan City Patriotic Parade.

Highlights of the summer concert series include special guest soloists and two commissions by award-winning composers. Soloists will be GySgt. Hiram Diaz, euphonium, from the US Marine Band (August 3); and Anne Marie Bice, soprano (June 22 and 29, and July 13). Other soloists and special events will be announced during the season.

The world premiere of Blue Water, Blue Sky by Catherine McMichael will take place on August 3. Also on August 3, the Concerto for Euphonium and Band by Tom Davoren will showcase the band with world-class euphonium soloist GySgt. Hiram Diaz, in three beautiful and dazzling movements.

In addition to being outstanding performers, many of the band members are also successful conductors. Some of those conductors will be featured on individual compositions throughout the summer.

Jeffrey Scott Doebler is the conductor for the MCMB, and Quincy Ford is the assistant conductor. 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. He is founder and conductor of Windiana: Professional Concert Band of Northwest Indiana. Mr. Ford, principal saxophone in the MCMB, is retired director of bands from Michigan City High School.

Thursday, June 27, 2019 Concert

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The fourth concert of the 151st season of the Michigan City Municipal Band (MCMB) will take place Thursday, June 27, 7:30p, at the Guy F. Foreman Bicentennial Amphitheater in Washington Park.

Guest soloist on the June 27 concert will be Anne Bice, voice professor from Valparaiso University. Ms. Bice has extensive performance experience and sings in a wide variety of styles. Prof. Bice will sing music by George and Ira Gershwin, and music made popular by Nat King Cole.

Andria Kessler, oboe and English horn player in the Michigan City Municipal Band, will conduct a medley from the popular film, The Greatest Showman. Ms. Kessler is one of the band conductors in the Valparaiso Community Schools.

The MCMB welcomes suggestions for repertoire. Requests received last summer to be performed on June 27 include music by jazz legend Bix Beiderbecke and the Swedish popular music group Abba.

The June 27 concert repertoire will be:

The Star-Spangled Banner
Bix Beiderbecke in Concert
Music from The Greatest Showman
Embraceable You by George and Ira Gershwin
They Can’t Take That Away from Me by George and Ira Gershwin
That Sunday That Summer, made popular by Nat King Cole
Abba on Broadway
Let There Be Peace on Earth
Right Left March by John Philip Sousa
Patriotic sing along: America, the Beautiful

Our tradition is to invite the audience to sing with the band at the beginning and ending of each concert. After the opening fanfare, the audience will sing along on The Star-Spangled Banner. Each concert ends with a familiar patriotic selection for the audience to sing.

The MCMB 151st season consists of ten free Thursday concerts, beginning June 6, and ending August 8. (During the week of Independence Day, the concert will be held on Friday, July 5.) All concerts begin at 7:30p and last about an hour. The band plays a wide variety of music, with concerts designed to entertain audience members of all ages.

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 small parking fee.

Jeffrey Scott Doebler is the conductor for the MCMB, and Quincy Ford is the assistant conductor. On November 3, 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. He is founder and conductor of Windiana: Professional Concert Band of Northwest Indiana. Mr. Ford, principal saxophone in the MCMB, is retired director of bands from Michigan City High School.

The band’s announcer is Rick Carlson.

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?

8-10-23 America the Beautiful

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.

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