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The Michigan City Municipal Band (MCMB) will begin its 156th season on Thursday, June 6, 7:30p, at the Guy F. Foreman Bicentennial Amphitheater in Washington Park.
The MCMB’s 156th season will consist of ten free concerts, beginning June 6, and ending August 8. 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. With one exception, all of the concerts will be performed at 7:30p Thursdays, and will last about an hour. During the week of Independence Day, the concert will take place on Saturday, July 6, at the recently-renovated gazebo near the entrance to Washington Park. The rededication ceremony will take place at 6:00p, followed by the band concert at 7:00.
Highlights of the summer concert series include special guest soloists and three commissions by award-winning composers. Guest artists will be GySgt. Hiram Diaz, euphonium, from the US Marine Band (August 1); Carnessa Carnes, narrator (August 1); Anne Marie Bice, soprano (June 13 and 27, and August 8), Dr. Lauren Hartman, soprano (July 18); Jared Coller, xylophone (June 27); and the ACE Group Clarinet Choir (June 20). Other soloists and special events will be announced during the season.
In addition to being outstanding performers, many of the MCMB members are successful conductors. Some of those conductors will be featured on individual compositions throughout the summer. We’ll also recognize four of our long-time band members—Mary Lee Riley, Roger Smith, Susan Smith, Steve Watson—and our recently-retired band member, Merry Johnson, by playing one selection each in their honor.
The world premiere of Reservation Band by Brent Michael Davids will take place on June 6. August 1 will be especially exciting, with two premieres! Michigan City composer Dan Schaaf has written Remembering Naomi to honor Naomi Anderson, African-American suffragette and Michigan City Native. Naomi’s words will be narrated by Michigan City’s Carnessa Carnes. And a new concerto by Dr. Kimberly Archer will showcase the band with world-class euphonium soloist GySgt. Hiram Diaz from the US Marine Band, “The President’s Own.”
Composer Brent Michael Davids is the famous Native American composer who has written for ensembles and films, and has been commissioned by the Joffrey Ballet and the National Symphony Orchestra. Having performed other compositions by Brent Michael Davids, the Michigan City Municipal Band is honored that Mr. Davids accepted our offer to write Reservation Band. In his program notes for the composition, Mr. Davids said “I wrote Reservation Band as a tribute to Indigenous people living within tribal bands, and—equally—to salute musicians who perform in bands, on or off the reservation.”
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 parking fee of $4 for the band concert.
Jeffrey Scott Doebler is the conductor for the MCMB, and Quincy Ford 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. Ford, principal saxophone in the MCMB, is retired director of bands and music department chair from Michigan City High School.
Thursday, August 8, 2024 Concert
The tenth and final concert of the 156th season of the Michigan City Municipal Band (MCMB) will be held Thursday, August 8, 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. Guest artists will be soprano Anne Marie Bice, and conductor Richard Liwosz.
The August 8 concert repertoire will be:
Canto by W. Francis McBeth
Peace Like a River Spiritual arr. Robert W. Smith
Selections from Mary Poppins by R. & R. Sherman
Anne Marie Bice, soprano
The Sound of Music by R. Rodgers, O Hammerstein
Anne Marie Bice, soprano
Hoosier Holiday Overture by Guy Foreman
Energy by Adrian Sims Richard Liwosz, conductor
The Northern Pines March by John Philip Sousa
Fantasy for Band by Frank Erickson
America, the Beautiful arr. Carmen Dragon
The Stars and Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa
Guest soprano soloist Anne Marie Bice will sing music from two of the most beloved musicals: Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. Ms. Bice is a voice professor from Valparaiso University. She has extensive performance experience, sings in a wide variety of styles, and has been soloing with the Michigan City Municipal Band since 2015.
In addition to being outstanding performers, many of the Michigan City Municipal Band members are successful conductors. On five concerts this season, conductors from within the band are being featured, each leading one composition.
On August 8, Richard Liwosz will conduct Energy by Adrian Sims. Mr. Liwosz is a retired music educator from the Michigan City Area Schools. He plays plays clarinet in the Michigan City Municipal Band, Windiana Concert Band, and the all-clarinet ensemble “ACE”. Mr. Liwosz holds degrees from Butler University, Purdue University, and Indiana Wesleyan University.
A native of Seattle, Adrian Sims is an African-American composer and trombonist. He earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland, and is pursuing a graduate degree in composition at the University of Texas at Austin. He has received awards from several young composer festivals, and has had his music performed around the world. Mr. Sims describes Energy as “an electrifying burst from beginning to end.”
The Michigan City Municipal Band will be dedicating its performance of Energy to the memory of Dolores Liwosz. The mother of Richard Liwosz, Mrs. Liwosz passed away on June 30, at the age of 93. A mother, grandmother, wife, nurse, office worker, and volunteer, Mrs. Liwosz was a regular audience member for the Michigan City Municipal Band.
Guy Forrest Foreman was the most important part of the legacy of the Michigan City Municipal Band. He conducted the band for 60 of its first 133 years. Dr. Foreman had seven compositions published by Belwin. His Hoosier Holiday Overture was composed in 1959. Dr. Foreman wrote that “Hoosier Holiday portrays a vacation in the resort area of northern Indiana, along the southern shores of Lake Michigan. The music might suggest the majestic and mysterious dunes country, the romantic moonlight summer evenings, and the march-like rhythms of the band concert in the park.”
John Philip Sousa led the US Marine Band for 12 years, then went on to form his own band that toured the world for another 39 years. Mr. Sousa composed The Northern Pines March in 1931, after a wonderful experience serving as a guest conductor for the National Music Camp at Interlochen in Michigan.
Continuing its tradition of concluding each concert with a patriotic audience sing-along, the Michigan City Municipal Band will close with Carmen Dragon’s famous setting of America, the Beautiful.
The Michigan City Municipal Band sincerely appreciates the citizens, city government, and parks department of Michigan City for supporting the band!
Thanks to our videographer, Ruben Alexander, the Michigan City Municipal Band can be seen on television all year long. For Michigan City area residents, the concerts are broadcast every Wednesday, at 10:00 AM and 8:00 PM, on cable channel 99. The band concerts also air in Fort Wayne.
All of the Michigan City Municipal Band 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 parking fee of $4 for the band concert. (The $4 fee applies after 7:00p.)
Food trucks will be on site for the band concerts. Audience members are encouraged to patronize these local businesses.
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. Mr. Ford, principal saxophone in the MCMB, is retired director of bands and music department chair 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?
8-8-24 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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Summer Concerts Every Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
Guy F. Foreman Bicentennial Amphitheater, Washington Park