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| Concord Band at Fruitlands Museum's outdoor amphitheater. |
The Concord Band is preparing for its
33rd season at Fruitlands Museum, in
Harvard, Mass. The summer concert series begins on Thursday June 21
, conducted by
Jim O’Dell, who next fall, along with the Concord Band's
60th Anniversary Season celebration
, will be celebrating his own 10th season as Music Director.
The first program, titled
Main Street USA, will feature some Dixieland, some blues, some marches, and selections from Broadway. The program includes a reprise by Concord Band trumpeter Rich Givens of Leroy Anderson’s
Trumpeters Lullaby. The following week, June 28th, it’s
Strike Up the Bands with popular music from Chicago, Santana, the Beatles, ABBA, and big bands of the swing era.
The
Independence Day program of patriotic American music will be performed at the
Picnic in the Park concert in Concord on July 4 and repeated at Fruitlands the following evening on Thursday July 5. The program includes the march,
America Forever written by Malinda Zenor, which is a delightful medley of
Battle Cry of Freedom and
America the Beautiful.
The program on July 12, themed
For Kids of All Ages, includes catchy children’s tunes and familiar movie music. The Band will be lead by dynamic Assistant Conductor
Steve Barbas, who has chosen
A Rhapsody of Reruns, an amusing melange of favorite TV show themes from the 1950s and 1960s, as well as
World of Warcraft, a piece with symphonic themes from the hit video game.
July 19 will have a program honoring
American Masters Leonard Bernstein, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Frank Sinatra, and George Gershwin. Bernstein, who was born in Lawrence and educated at Harvard, became the leading figure in 20th-century American classical music. The Concord Band continues our tribute to his 100th birthday by performing
A Simple Song from Mass and
Selections from West Side Story. The final concert on July 26 is a
Summer Retrospective, comprising encores of audience favorites across the entire concert series.
Fruitlands concerts are Thursdays starting at 7:15 pm. The grounds open at 5:00 pm and the Art Gallery is open to concert goers. Admission is $20 per carload, or $15 for members of Trustees of the Reservations; $10 for cyclists and motorcycles, or $5 for members.
The Picnic in the Park concert at Emerson Field in Concord begins at 3:15 pm. Come early for lots of fun family activities! Admission is free. In the event of rain, the concert will be played in the Performance Arts Center at 51 Walden Street.
Fruitlands concerts may be canceled if weather is threatening; the Band’s phone line (978-897-9969) will have cancellation information. More information about the Concord Band can be found on
Facebook or at
www.concordband.org.
The Concord Band’s Fruitlands summer series is supported in part by the Bolton and Harvard Cultural Councils. The Concord Cultural Council also supports the Band’s Winter concert at 51 Walden.
