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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, August 5, 2021 Concert

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The ninth concert of the 153rd season of the Michigan City Municipal Band (MCMB) will be held Thursday, August 5, 7:30p, at the Guy F. Foreman Bicentennial Amphitheater in Washington Park. Guest soloist will be Anne Marie Bice, voice professor from Valparaiso University. Ms. Bice has extensive performance experience and sings in a wide variety of styles. Prof. Bice will sing music by George and Ira Gershwin and Hoagy Carmichael.

The August 5 concert repertoire will be:

Radetsky March by Johann Strauss, Jr.
Florentiner March by Julius Fucik
‘S Wonderful by George and Ira Gershwin
Stardust by Hoagy Carmichael
Scarf Dance by Cecile Chaminade
My America arr. Joyce Eilers
St. Louis Blues by WC Handy
La Fiesta Mexicana (excerpt) by H.Owen Reed

Radetsky March and Florentiner March were favorites of the late Dr. Charles Janovsky. “Dr. J” played clarinet in the Michigan City Municipal Band for 39 years, and the band is honoring him by playing these two selections. In addition to Dr. Janovsky, the Michigan City Municipal Band has recently honored four other long-serving band members who died since the band’s 2019 season: Michael Boo, Steve Hornyak, Norm Jones, and Bud Westphal.

George and Ira Gershwin composed ‘s Wonderful in 1927 for the musical Funny Face. Performed and recorded by countless artists over years, the song was also used in the 1951 film, An American in Paris.

Also composed in 1927, Stardust is a classic by Indiana’s own Hoagy Carmichael. Recorded at least 1500 times, Stardust entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1995, and the National Recording Registry in 2004.

Cecile Chaminade (1857-1944) was an acclaimed French composer and pianist, the first female awarded the Legion d’Honneur. Ms. Chaminade toured the USA in 1908, and one of her most popular compositions was Scarf Dance.

My America is Joyce Eilers’ lovely setting of America, which we all know as My Country, ‘Tis of Thee.” Mrs. Eilers earned degrees from Oklahoma City University and the University of Oregon. She was a school music teacher for many years, and also taught at Pacific Lutheran University. Mrs. Eilers was well-respected for her hundreds of choral compositions and arrangements, her sight-singing methods, and her mentorship of young composers.

W.C. Handy dubbed himself the “Father of the Blues.” An important American songwriter, Mr. Handy was one of the first publishers of blues music. Inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1993, St. Louis Blues was inspired by Mr. Handy’s meeting of a distraught woman in St. Louis.

Composer H. Owen Reed (1910-2014) taught at Michigan State University for nearly 40 years. La Fiesta Mexicana is Dr. Reed’s impression of a Mexican fiesta.

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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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