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The Michigan City Municipal Band (MCMB) will begin its 157th season on Thursday, June 5, 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 157th season will consist of ten free concerts, beginning June 5, and ending August 7. 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. With one exception, all of the concerts will be performed on Thursdays at 7:30p, and will last about an hour. On June 19, the concert will take place at 4:30p as part of the Michigan City Juneteenth Celebration. The Juneteenth MCMB concert will be followed that evening by a performance of The Reggie Foster Experience.

Highlights of the MCMB summer concert series include special guest soloists and three commissions by acclaimed composers. Guest artists will be GySgt. Hiram Diaz, euphonium, from the US Marine Band (July 31); Carnessa Carnes, narrator (June 19); Anne Marie Bice, soprano (June 26, July 24, and August 7), Richard Liwosz, clarinet (June 26); Dr. Lauren Hartman, soprano (July 10); Charles Steck and Ryan Rabe, trumpets (July 24). Other soloists and special events will be announced during the season.

The MCMB will present the premieres of three commissions:

Winds Across the Water by Erika Svanoe (June 5 and again on July 10 and August 7)

Yearning to Breathe Free by Michele Fernandez (July 24 and August 7)

Rhapsody for Euphonium by Kevin Day (July 31)

Erika 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. Michele Fernandez is a composer and conductor from Florida. Yearning to Breathe Free is a tribute to The Statue of Liberty, as we prepare to celebrate USA 250 in 2026. Kevin Day is a composer from California. His Rhapsody for Euphonium will showcase the band with world-class euphonium soloist GySgt. Hiram Diaz from the US Marine Band, “The President’s Own.”

On June 19, the MCMB will also reprise its 2024 premiere of Michigan City composer Dan Schaaf’s composition Remembering Naomi. The work honors Naomi Anderson, African-American suffragist and Michigan City Native. Naomi’s words will be narrated by Michigan City’s Carnessa Carnes.

In addition to being outstanding performers, many of the MCMB members are successful conductors. Some of those conductors will be featured on individual compositions throughout the summer: Tracy Bermingham (June 12), Jacen Smith (June 26), Sarah DeRossi (July 10), Paul Wagner (July 24), and Julie Plant (August 7). The band will also recognize two just-retired members—Roger and Susan Smith—who played in the band for 69 and 57 years, respectively (June 26).

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 for the band concert.

Jeffrey Scott Doebler is the conductor for the MCMB, and Quincy Ford 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. Ford, principal saxophone in the MCMB, is retired director of bands and music department chair from Michigan City High School.

Thursday, August 1, 2024 Concert

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***CONCERT LOCATION CHANGE TONIGHT***

Due to forecasted inclement weather, the August 1 concert by the Michigan City Municipal Band will take place in the Michigan City High School Auditorium, 8466 W. Pahs Road. The concert will start at 7:30p CDT.

AUDIENCE MEMBERS

· Enter via Door “O”.

· Auditorium doors will open at approximately 6:30p.

· There is no admission charge for the concert.

BAND MEMBERS

· I will bring the music folders.

· I will bring the music notebooks.

· Enter via Door “O”.

· The band room in the amphitheater will not be open.

· Tune and Talk Through still happens at 7:20p.

· I will bring my portable sound system with extension cords for Allen Smith to use.

· I will do my best to have the stage set up for you when you arrive, including percussion.

· The following percussion will be provided by MCHS:

  • 4 timpani
  • bass drum
  • xylophone
  • marimba
  • vibraphone
  • chimes
  • Orchestra bells
  • suspended cymbal
  • crash cymbals
  • hi hat
  • gong

· If there is other equipment you would like me to bring from the amphitheater, please let me know.

Thursday, August 1, 2024 

The ninth concert of the 156th season of the Michigan City Municipal Band (MCMB) will be held Thursday, July 18, 7:30p, at the Guy F. Foreman Bicentennial Amphitheater in Washington Park. In case of inclement weather, the concert will take place in the Michigan City High School Auditorium, 8466 W. Pahs Road.

The concert will feature two premieres! Michigan City composer Dan Schaaf has written Remembering Naomi to honor Naomi Anderson, African-American suffragist and Michigan City native. Remembering Naomi will be narrated by Michigan City’s Carnessa Carnes.

On the same night, a new concerto by Dr. Kimberly Archer—titled Summer Nights at the Bandstand—will showcase the band with world-class euphonium soloist GySgt. Hiram Diaz, from the US Marine Band, “The President’s Own.”

The August 1 concert repertoire will be:

The Thunderer March by John Philip Sousa

Summer Nights at the Bandstand by Kimberly Archer

Hymn to the Dawn by Kimberly Archer

Blue Comet by Jorge Vargas

Prince in Concert arr. Paul Murtha

Pax by Catherine McMichael

Remembering Naomi by Dan Schaaf

George Washington Bicentennial March by John Philip Sousa

My America arr. Joyce Eilers

Remembering Naomi, by Michigan City composer Dan Schaaf, uses music, historical narrative, and the words of Naomi Anderson to tell the story of Michigan City’s important suffragist. Mr. Schaaf is the founder of Sudden Productions. For almost 25 years, his music, videos, and music theatre works have been acclaimed in performances throughout Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and New York. The commissioned arranger for Remembering Naomi is Alexander Keim, a LaPorte native and Valparaiso University graduate. Mr. Keim is a professional percussionist. He is a former music teacher, who now specializes in information technology. Narrator Carnessa Carnes lives in Michigan City. She serves as a poetry workshop facilitator, and is the creator of Bless the Mic Open Mic Show.

Dr. Kimberly Archer teaches at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. Her compositions have been played around the world, including the most recent national tour of the US Coast Guard Band. In Summer Nights at the Bandstand, Dr. Archer has brought the virtuosic turn-of-the-twentieth-century solo tradition into the 21st century. Dr. Archer’s composition showcases the world-class musicianship of euphoniumist GySgt. Hiram Diaz, and also gives a nod to the Olympics.

Gunnery Sergeant Hiram Diaz grew up in Miami. He graduated from Miami’s New World School of the Arts, then earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. He joined the US Marine Band, “The President’s Own,” in 2012. He is co-leader of the Marine Band’s Latin Jazz Ensemble.

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?

6-19-25 Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing

Lift every voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on till victory is won

Stony the road we trod
Bitter the chastening rod
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died
Yet with a steady beat
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered
Out from the gloomy past
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast

God of our weary years
God of our silent tears
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way
Thou who has by Thy might Led us into the light
Keep us forever in the path, we pray
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee

Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee
Shadowed beneath Thy hand
May we forever stand
True to our God
True to our native land
Our native land

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