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2022 marks the 154th season of the Michigan City Municipal Band. The 2022 concert series will consist of ten free Thursday concerts, beginning June 9, and ending August 11. All concerts begin at 7:30p and last about an hour at the Guy F. Foreman Bicentennial Amphitheater in Washington Park. 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.
Highlights of the summer concert series include special guest soloists and two commissions by award-winning composers. Soloists will be GySgt. Hiram Diaz, euphonium, from the US Marine Band (July 28); Dr. George Wolfe, saxophone (June 23); Anne Marie Bice, soprano (June 16 and 30); and Rick AmRhein, baritone/narrator (July 14). Additional soloists may be announced later in the season.
The world premiere of Where the Stormy Winds Blow by Dr. Jesse Ayers will take place on July 14. The work is based on a true story, recorded in the Library of Congress, about a Lake Michigan shipwreck with a triumphal ending. Rick AmRhein will serve as narrator and baritone soloist, and the audience will be invited to sing along on a Lake Michigan sea shanty. On July 28, the Concerto for Euphonium and Band by Tom Davoren will showcase the band with world-class euphonium soloist GySgt. Hiram Diaz, in three beautiful and dazzling movements.
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. He is a past president of the Indiana Bandmasters Association and the Indiana Music Education Association. He is founder and conductor of Windiana: Professional Concert Band of Northwest Indiana. Mr. Ford, principal saxophone in the MCMB, is retired director of bands from Michigan City High School.
Thursday, July 14, 2022 Concert
The sixth concert of the 154th season of the Michigan City Municipal Band (MCMB) will be held Thursday, July 14, 7:30p, at the Guy F. Foreman Bicentennial Amphitheater in Washington Park.
In addition to several selections in popular and traditional styles, the band will present the premiere of its 2022 commission, Where the Stormy Winds Blow. This engaging work was composed by Jesse Ayers of Ohio. Among Dr. Ayers’ many honors are the 2020 Governor’s Award for Ohio’s Outstanding Artist, and the inaugural American Prize for Orchestral Composition in 2011. Dr. Ayers holds the DMA degree from the University of Kentucky, and is Professor Emeritus at Malone University. Dr. Jeffrey Scott Doebler, conductor of the MCMB, has had the privilege of conducting five premieres of Dr. Ayers’ compositions, as well as creating audio and video recordings of the composer’s music.
Where the Stormy Winds Blow features a narrator who recounts the story through spoken word and singing. The narrator will be Richard AmRhein. Mr. AmRhein most recently served as chief information officer and chief of staff for the office of the president at Valparaiso University. He holds degrees in music, library science, and law, having studied at Eastern Illinois University, Baylor University, Rutgers University, and Valparaiso University.
Where the Stormy Winds Blow is based on a true story that occurred on Lake Michigan in 1873. It happened during a supply run from Beaver Island to Traverse City. The saga is based on 1937 audio field recordings from the Library of Congress. These Library of Congress recordings are oral accounts from two residents of Beaver Island who had personal knowledge of the events that took place. The gist of the story is what led to a happy ending after a tragic shipwreck.
The composition also employs a Lake Michigan sea shanty called The Gallagher Boys, also captured on the 1937 field recordings. Members of the audience will have the opportunity to sing along on the shanty, by joining on the repeat of the one-line refrain.
The audience will be captivated by this compelling story.
The MCMB is honored that Dr. Ayers plans to attend the concert on July 14.
The MCMB 154th Season consists of ten free Thursday concerts, ending August 11. All concerts begin at 7:30p and last about an hour. The band plays a wide variety of music, with concerts designed to entertain audience members of all ages. 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.
The parking fee on Thursday nights for band concerts has been reduced to $4.00.
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?
8-11-22 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