Broadway music fills Purdue Summer Band concert July 19
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Tunes from Tony Award-winning musicals highlight the Purdue Summer Band's annual outdoor concert set for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday (July 19) at Slayter Center, located on the corner of Stadium and Martin Jischke Drive on Purdue's campus.
"Although this is a tribute to the Tonys with a lot of popular songs from Broadway, there's a mixture of other things on the concert," says co-director Ishbah Cox.
Purdue grad Paul Lavender's "Fanfare and Hymn of Celebration" will open the concert. The event also includes Irish and English folk tunes by Percy Grainger and a light-hearted march - "The Whole Schenectady" - written by Tecumseh Middle School band director Jeff Parthun.
The "Schenectady" was the name given to the original train engine on Purdue's campus. Obtained in 1891, it provided hands-on learning opportunities for engineering students through 1897. Parthun's march makes use of train whistles and cow bells in tribute to the legendary old engine.
Popular Broadway tunes fill the remainder of the show. A medley of Broadway tunes from the 1990s features music from "Beauty and the Beast," "Rent," "Jekyll and Hyde" and "The Lion King," among others. Highlights from "Dream Girls" will fill the fill with soaring numbers like "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going" and "Move."
Irving Berlin, one of the most prolific composers for American film and Broadway, will be saluted with a medley arranged by Warren Barker that features such tunes as "There's No Business Like Show Business," "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Blue Skies," "Doing What Comes Naturally," "White Christmas" and "God Bless America."
The Purdue Summer Band is a long-standing tradition that pulls together college students, Purdue faculty and staff members, high school and community musicians for an intensive summer band experience. The musicians rehearse twice a week for a month then present an outdoor concert.
The 2011 band is co-directed by Jay Gephart and Ishbah Cox, both members of the Purdue Bands & Orchestra faculty.
Admission to the hour-long concert is free, and those attending are encouraged to bring picnics as well as blankets and/or lawn chairs for lawn seating. It is sponsored by Purdue Bands & Orchestras.
Contact: Kathy Matter, 765-496-6785, kcmatter@purdue.edu