Northwestern College Symphonic Band to perform concert

The Northwestern College Symphonic Band will present a concert on Friday, Feb. 12, at 7:30 p.m. in Christ Chapel. The event is free and open to the public.

The band, under the direction of Dr. Tim McGarvey, professor of music at Northwestern, will perform a variety of pieces, including “Elegy for Miles Davis” by Richard Rodney Bennett, the second movement from Bennett’s “Concerto for Trumpet and Wind Orchestra.” The performance will feature trumpet soloist Drew Lemke, a junior music education major and winner of the 2015–16 Ritsema Family Scholarship.

Thomas Knox’s “American Pageant” will also be performed during the concert. The piece was commissioned for the inauguration of President Richard Nixon in 1973 and has been used at each subsequent inaugural by the United States Marine Band. “The well-known patriotic melodies included are permanent reminders of the heritage of the United States,” says McGarvey.

The ensemble will present John Carnahan’s “Centennial Celebration Fanfare”; Robert Russell Bennett’s “Cake Walk,” from “Suite of Old American Dances”; and Vincent Persichetti’s “Psalm for the Band.” They will also perform arrangements of “Wayfaring Stranger” by Steve Rouse and Anthony LeBounty’s “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us.”

The concert will conclude with “The Red Machine” by Peter Graham, originally built on the famous hymn tune “Ein Fest Burg,” or “A Mighty Fortress.” The piece is a virtuoso concerto, originally written for “The Red Machine,” the regiment and its band responsible for the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.