Purdue Summer Band concert features British guest on July 18

 

The Purdue Summer Band, the Purdue Jazz Band and the Worcestershire Youth Brass Band from Worcester, England, provides a lively concert of music - saluting everything from James Bond and “The Incredibiles” to the Civil War – to energize a lazy summer evening on Tuesday, July 18.

 

Purdue Bands' annual summer outdoor concert begins at 7 p.m. at Slayter Center, on the corner of Stadium and Intramural. Admission is free. Those attending are encouraged to bring chairs and blankets for lawn seating and picnic dinners.

 

“Americana” was the keyword Purdue Summer Band director Jay Gephart used to create the July 18 program. Besides an appearance by the Purdue Jazz Band, playing music born in America, “I wanted great concert band literature that had an American slant to it since we're sharing our concert with a group from England,” he says.

 

Clare Grundman's “American Folk Rhapsody” and Jerry Bilik's “American Civil War Fantasy,” to be performed by the Purdue Summer Band, both contain a variety of old American folk songs.

 

“The ‘American Civil War Fantasy' is particularly descriptive,” Gephart says. “It takes you through the beginning of the Civil War including a depiction of the first shot fired. It's a very powerful piece of music.” Some of the tunes included in it are “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” “Battle Cry of Freedom” and “ Maryland, My Maryland.”

 

Switching to the 21st century, the Purdue Summer Band - made up of 60 Purdue students, faculty and community members - tackles music from the recent film hit “The Incredibles” and salutes two upcoming revivals. They will play selections from “A Chorus Line” in honor of its upcoming return to Broadway and James Bond music to salute the remake of “Casino Royale.”

 

A bit of a James Bond musical battle might develop as the Worcestershire Band also plans to play James Bond movie themes on their portion of the program along with “The Circle of Life” from “The Lion King,” music from “Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone,” “Mission Impossible,” Peter Graham's Northern Landscapes” and Eric Bourgesois' “Serenade.”

 

Harrison High School is hosting the Worcestershire Band's week-long stay in the Greater Lafayette community. On July 17, the British band will perform at an Indianapolis Indians baseball game in Indianapolis, and on July 20 they will share the concert stage with the Lafayette Citizen's Band on Reihle Plaza in downtown Lafayette. Between performances, they will sightsee in Chicago and central Indiana.

 

Steve Cotten, Harrison's band director, has been doing exchanges with British youth bands since 1988 and this represents the fifth exchange in the past two decades. “We're very proud to host the top brass ensemble from the town of Worcester,” says Cotten. The 36 instrumentalists will stay in the homes of Harrison's band families and in the summer of 2007, the Harrison Band will travel to England as guests of the Worcestershire Band.

 

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