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The Michigan City Municipal Band (MCMB) will begin its 156th season on Thursday, June 6, 7:30p, at the Guy F. Foreman Bicentennial Amphitheater in Washington Park.

The MCMB’s 156th season will consist of ten free concerts, beginning June 6, and ending August 8. 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 at 7:30p Thursdays, and will last about an hour. During the week of Independence Day, the concert will take place on Saturday, July 6, at the recently-renovated gazebo near the entrance to Washington Park. The rededication ceremony will take place at 6:00p, followed by the band concert at 7:00.

Highlights of the summer concert series include special guest soloists and three commissions by award-winning composers. Guest artists will be GySgt. Hiram Diaz, euphonium, from the US Marine Band (August 1); Carnessa Carnes, narrator (August 1); Anne Marie Bice, soprano (June 13 and 27, and August 8), Dr. Lauren Hartman, soprano (July 18); Jared Coller, xylophone (June 27); and the ACE Group Clarinet Choir (June 20). Other soloists and special events will be announced during the season.

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. We’ll also recognize four of our long-time band members—Mary Lee Riley, Roger Smith, Susan Smith, Steve Watson—and our recently-retired band member, Merry Johnson, by playing one selection each in their honor.

The world premiere of Reservation Band by Brent Michael Davids will take place on June 6. August 1 will be especially exciting, with two premieres! Michigan City composer Dan Schaaf has written Remembering Naomi to honor Naomi Anderson, African-American suffragette and Michigan City Native. Naomi’s words will be narrated by Michigan City’s Carnessa Carnes. And a new concerto by Dr. Kimberly Archer will showcase the band with world-class euphonium soloist GySgt. Hiram Diaz from the US Marine Band, “The President’s Own.”

Composer Brent Michael Davids is the famous Native American composer who has written for ensembles and films, and has been commissioned by the Joffrey Ballet and the National Symphony Orchestra. Having performed other compositions by Brent Michael Davids, the Michigan City Municipal Band is honored that Mr. Davids accepted our offer to write Reservation Band. In his program notes for the composition, Mr. Davids said “I wrote Reservation Band as a tribute to Indigenous people living within tribal bands, and—equally—to salute musicians who perform in bands, on or off the reservation.”

 

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, 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?

8-8-24 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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