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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, June 13, 2024 Concert

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The second concert of the 156th season of the Michigan City Municipal Band (MCMB) will be held Thursday, June 13, 7:30p, at the Guy F. Foreman Bicentennial Amphitheater in Washington Park.

The June 13 concert repertoire will be:

West Point March by Philip Egner
Let There Be Peace on Earth by Sy Miller and Jill Jackson
Poor Wayfaring Stranger arranged by Herbert Fred
Oblivion by Astor Piazzola
Phoenix by Tyler Arcari
Cloud Nine by Lauren Bernofsky
Nostalgia in the Air by Kelijah Dunton, with Bridget Flory, conductor
Mancini! By Henry Mancini
America, the Beautiful arr. Warren Barker

Anne Marie BiceGuest soprano soloist, Anne Marie Bice, will sing two meaningful and well-known songs: the popular Let There Be Peace on Earth and the haunting folksong Poor Wayfaring Stranger. 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.

West Point March was composed by military bandsman Lt. Philip Egner. It contains snippets of more than a half dozen famous military tunes. West Point March is an example of a composition that was requested last summer by one of our audience members.

Astor Piazzola was an Argentine composer who was famous for tangos. Oblivion is a tango that demonstrates the stylistic versatility of our band members. We’re playing Oblivion to honor active Michigan City Municipal Band members oboist Susan Smith and clarinetist Roger Smith, for their many decades of service to the band. Between the two in this wife and husband team, they have played in the Michigan City Municipal Band for 126 years!

Composer Tyler Arcari is Instrumental Music Editor for Excelcia Music Publishing. He wrote Phoenix to depict the fiery bird from Greek mythology.

Lauren Bernofsky is an acclaimed musician who earned a doctoral degree in composition from Boston University. Cloud Nine was written to share joyfulness and exuberance. Dr. Bernofsky achieved this by alternating rhythms between groups of three and groups of two.

Conducting Nostalgia in the Air by Kelijah Dunton will be Bridget Flory. Ms. Flory plays saxophone in the Michigan City Municipal Band and Windiana Concert Band. She serves as director of bands for the River Forest Schools. A native of Valparaiso, Ms. Flory earned her bachelor’s degree in music education from Ball State University. Kelijah Dunton is an African-American composer, based in New York City. He’s been creating music since he was a high school student and already has nearly 20 publications. Nostalgia in the Air is a lyrical and gentle selection. Mr. Dunton’s notes on Nostalgia in the Air describe the work as conveying “the feeling we all share when remembering the fondest of memories—a day or a time where we most enjoyed being alive.”

Henry Mancini was one of America’s most successful composers, having had countless hits, and winning four Academy Awards and 20 Grammy Awards. Stephen Bulla’s Mancini! arrangement includes several of Henry Mancini’s most recognizable hits: The Pink Panther, Moon River, Baby Elephant Walk, and Peter Gunn.

Continuing its tradition of concluding each concert with a patriotic audience sing-along, the Michigan City Municipal Band will close with Warren Barker’s stirring arrangement of America, the Beautiful.

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?

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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