The sixth concert of the 157th season of the Michigan City Municipal Band (MCMB) will be held Thursday, July 10, 7:30p, at the Guy F. Foreman Bicentennial Amphitheater in Washington Park.
Special guest artist will be Dr. Lauren Hartman, soprano soloist. Guest conductor for one selection will be Sarah DeRossi Kelly. Dr. Hartman is a music educator, church musician, and soloist from Miami. Mrs. Kelly is one of the band teachers in the Valparaiso Community Schools. She plays piccolo and flute in the MCMB.
The July 10 concert repertoire will be:
A Kingston Trio Folk Song Overture arr. Alfred Reed
Our Cast Aways by Julie Giroux
Sarah DeRossi Kelly, conductor
They Can’t Take That Away from Me by George Gershwin
Lauren Hartman, soprano
I’ve Made My Plans for the Summer by John Philip Sousa
Lauren Hartman, soprano
Water Drops Come Spring by Richard Saucedo
It’s Not Unusual/Delilah arr. Bill Holcomb
Revival March by John Philip Sousa
Winds Across the Water by Erika Svanoe
God Bless America by Irving Berlin
Special guest artist will be soprano soloist Lauren Hartman. Dr. Hartman serves at Westminster Christian School in Palmetto Bay, Florida, where she teaches choir for grades four through twelve. She holds three degrees in voice performance: University of Miami (D.M.A.), University of Northern Iowa (M.M.), and Simpson College (B.M.). Dr. Hartman is active as a professional vocalist and church musician (vocalist, pianist, children’s choir director). She has been a frequent vocal soloist with the Miami Sousa Band and Windiana Concert Band, including Windiana tours in China and Italy. In 2022, Dr. Hartman served as a guest conductor, vocalist, and pianist with Windiana at Carnegie Hall. This month, Dr. Hartman is in residence at Valparaiso University, serving as Operations Manager for Lutheran Summer Music, the national high school music academy and festival. Dr. Hartman will sing the George and Ira Gershwin favorite, They Can’t Take that Away from Me. She’ll also sing John Philip Sousa’s comedic I’ve Made My Plans for the Summer, about a young lady declining the advances of a man she meets.
In addition to being outstanding performers, many of the Michigan City Municipal Band members are also successful conductors. On five concerts this season, conductors from within the band are being featured, each leading one composition. Sarah DeRossi Kelly will conduct Our Cast Aways. The composition was commissioned by the bands in Oswego, Illinois. It’s a reflection on pets who enter animal shelters, and especially those who must be put down. The dedication reads: To “those who rescue, those who get rescued, and especially…those whose rescue never comes.” Composer Julie Giroux received her formal education from Louisiana State University and Boston University. Among her teachers was John Williams. In 1985, she began composing, orchestrating, and conducting music for television and films. When Ms. Giroux won the first of her three Emmy Awards, she was the first woman and the youngest person ever to win the award in that category.
Fans of Tom Jones will enjoy a compilation of two if his greatest hits: It’s Not Unusual and Delilah. A Kingston Trio Folk Song Overture contains six familiar songs: Fast Freight, The River is Wide, Lemon Tree, Tom Dooley, Five Hundred Miles, and When the Saints Go Marching In. Water Drops Come Spring is a lovely lyrical selection by Indiana composer and music educator Richard Saucedo. Composed in 1876, Revival March is one of John Philip Sousa’s earliest marches. He wrote it at age 22, four years before being appointed conductor of the US Marine Band. At the time of the USA Centennial, Mr. Sousa was active in the Philadelphia area as a violinist. The third section of Revival March contains the popular hymn In the Sweet Bye and Bye.
Premiered on June 5, Michigan City audiences will get to hear Erika Svanoe’s delightful Winds Across the Water for the second time. Dr. Svanoe is a composer and conductor from Wisconsin. Winds Across the Water contains melodies and intervals inspired by Dr. Svanoe’s impressions of the Michigan City Lighthouse, and the breeze felt by standing at the edge of Lake Michigan in Washington Park.
Continuing its tradition of concluding each concert with a patriotic audience sing-along, the Michigan City Municipal Band will close with Irving Berlin’s patriotic anthem God Bless America.
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 ($8 for buses) for the band concert.
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.