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| Music Director James O'Dell |
The Concord Band will kick off its 60th anniversary season at 8 p.m. Oct. 20 with a concert at the Performing Arts Center at 51 Walden in Concord.
The band will be “Celebrating Our Heritage.” Music Director James O’Dell and Assistant Conductor Steven Barbas will conduct.
O’Dell, who celebrates his 10th year with the Concord Band, has chosen concert band classics as well as two Concord Band commissions for the program, Triumphant Entrance by the late Warren Barker and North Bridge Portrait by Stephen Bulla. Proud Heritage by William Latham will be on the program along with Frederick Fennell’s edition of Gustav Holst’s First Suite in Eb for Military Band and a new transcription of Verdi’s “Overture to La Forza del Destino.”
The Holst was one of the first original compositions for the modern concert band, completed in 1909 and premiered in 1920. In his arrangement, Fennell, who was a guest conductor with the Concord Band in 1983, incorporated all of his own corrections, interpretations and notes into the score.
Concord by Clare Grundman was commissioned and premiered by the U.S. Marine Band in Boston and includes a mixed-meter setting of “Yankee Doodle.” Barbas will conduct both the Grundman and On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss, by David Holsinger.
The Concord Band was originally formed in 1959 as a marching band to participate in patriotic celebrations in the Town of Concord, and has been performing as a year-round symphonic concert band since 1970.
The concert is free; donations are appreciated. To donate: Go Fund Me.
