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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 23, 2022 Concert

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The third concert of the 154th season of the Michigan City Municipal Band (MCMB) will be held Thursday, June 23, 7:30p, at the Guy F. Foreman Bicentennial Amphitheater in Washington Park.

The June 23 concert repertoire will be:

The Invincible Eagle March by John Philip Sousa
Lightnin’ by Rudy Wiedoeft and Hugo Frey George Wolfe, saxophone
Persuasion by Sammy Nestico George Wolfe, saxophone
Tudor Sketches by William Owens
Folk Songs of Britain by Guy Foreman
Lady Gaga Dance Mix arr. Ted Ricketts
Anthem for Peace by Ed Huckeby
Highlights from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein
Cirbiribin by Alberto Pestalozza
From Sea to Shining Sea by Maurice Whitney

Dr. George WolfGuest soloist will be George Wolfe. Dr. Wolfe is Professor Emeritus at Ball State University, where he taught saxophone performance and chamber music for 32 years. He has performed extensively throughout the United States, and has also concertized in Europe, Cyprus, Costa Rica, Canada, India, Korea and Japan. He has been heard on radio stations across the US, and has appeared as a soloist with such ensembles as the Royal Band of the Belgian Air force, the United States Navy Band, the World Band at Disney World, the Medalist Concert Band in Minneapolis, and Windiana Concert Band. Critics have praised his playing as “brilliant and moving.” John Lambert, writing in the Winston Salem Spectator, described Wolfe’s performance as “a deeply satisfying and moving artistic experience.”

Dr. Wolfe holds a Performance Certificate from Indiana University, where he studied with Eugene Rousseau and Daniel Deffayet. He is featured on eight volumes of the compact disk series America’s Millennium Tribute to Adolphe Sax, distributed by Arizona University Recordings. He has presented master classes at the Paris Conservatory, Indiana University, and the Interlochen Center for the Arts.

Dr. Wolfe will perform two solos with the MCMB: Lightnin’ by Rudy Wiedoeft and Hugo Frey, and Persuasion by Sammy Nestico. Rudy Wiedoeft was one of the early saxophone virtuosos. He made more than 300 recordings, and is credited with helping to popularize the saxophone (invented by Adolphe Sax in 1840) in the USA and Europe. Sammy Nestico was one of the most successful jazz composers of the last 50 years. He is perhaps best well-known for his compositions and arrangements for the Count Basie Band. Persuasion is a beautiful ballad.

The Sousa Band played twice in Michigan City:

1914—Tuesday, October 13, evening, Orpheum Theater

1924—Monday, November 10, matinee, Tivoli Theater

The 1914 tour also included concerts in LaPorte and Valparaiso. Since The Invincible Eagle was on the 1914 tour program, it is likely that the Sousa Band played it in Michigan City, LaPorte, and Valparaiso.Continue reading→

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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