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2022 marks the 154th season of the Michigan City Municipal Band.  The 2022 concert series will consist of ten free Thursday concerts, beginning June 9, and ending August 11. All concerts begin at 7:30p and last about an hour at the Guy F. Foreman Bicentennial Amphitheater in Washington Park. 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 (July 28); Dr. George Wolfe, saxophone (June 23); Anne Marie Bice, soprano (June 16 and 30); and Rick AmRhein, baritone/narrator (July 14). Additional soloists may be announced later in the season.

The world premiere of Where the Stormy Winds Blow by Dr. Jesse Ayers will take place on July 14. The work is based on a true story, recorded in the Library of Congress, about a Lake Michigan shipwreck with a triumphal ending. Rick AmRhein will serve as narrator and baritone soloist, and the audience will be invited to sing along on a Lake Michigan sea shanty. On July 28, 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.

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, July 21, 2022 Concert

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The seventh concert of the 154th season of the Michigan City Municipal (MCMB) will be held on Thursday, July 21, 7:30p, at the Guy F. Foreman Bicentennial Amphitheater in Washington Park. The band plays a variety of music designed to entertain audience members of all ages. All concerts are free and everyone is welcome. Jeffrey Scott Doebler is the conductor for MCMB and Quincy Ford is the assistant conductor. Dr. Doebler serves as director of music education at Valparaiso University. Mr. Ford, principal saxophone in the MCMB, is retired director of bands and music department chairperson at Michigan City High School. Quincy Ford will lead the band this week.

The July 21 concert repertoire will include:

El Capitan by John Philip Sousa
Moorside March by Gustav Holst arr. Gordon Jacob
Rhapsody on a French Hymn by David Gorham
Dry Your Tears, Afrika by John Williams arr. Paul Lavender
Slippery Joe (Trombone Trio w/band) by Joe Bennett arr. Art Dedrick
The Sound of Music by Rogers and Hammerstein arr. Robert R. Bennett
Themes Like Old Times arr. Warren Barker
Danger Zone by Moroder & Whitlock arr. Michael Story
March “the Southerner” by Russell Alexander arr. Glenn Cliff Bainum
This Land Is Your Land by Woody Guthrie arr. John Warrington

Our tradition of inviting the audience to sing at the beginning and ending of each concert will continue. After the opening fanfare, the audience will sing along on the Star-Spangled Banner. Each concert ends with a familiar patriotic song for the audience to sing. The lyrics to each song are posted on the MCMB’s Facebook page and can be accessed on your smartphone.

The MCMB 154th season consists of ten free Thursday concerts, ending August 11. All concerts begin at 7:30p and last about an hour. Parking is available in the lots closest to the amphitheater, as well as the Michigan City Senior Center. Entrance to the park is free with a Michigan City Park sticker, otherwise there is a small parking fee.

Rick Carlson, principal trumpet for MCMB, will be the announcer.

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?

8-11-22 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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