MARINE BARRACKS WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On Friday, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m., “The President’s Own” and the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) will perform a joint concert, titled “Notes of Honor,” in honor of veterans at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall in Washington, D.C. The concert is free, but registration is required. To register for up to 6 seats call (202) 467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/event/NSVDS.
The Marine Band, conducted by Director Col. Jason K. Fettig, will kick off the program with Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Samuel Barber’s Commando March, which he composed for the Technical Training Command in Atlantic City, where he was serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps. Also appearing on the first half of the concert will be William Schuman’s Chester Overture from New England Triptych, Charles Ives’ Finale from Symphony No. 2, and John Williams’ Theme from Schindler’s List.
In 1933, Williams earned a fifth Academy Award for his score to Steven Spielberg’s moving drama Schindler’s List. The theme was specifically for violinist Itzhak Perlman. The last time the Marine Band performed this piece at the Kennedy Center was under the baton of John Williams himself in 2003. This year, the soloist will be the Marine Chamber Orchestra’s concertmaster Staff Sgt. Karen Johnson.
“There is a little bit of a lamenting motive in the melody, the quick motion of the pitches in fifths,” explains Johnson. “Every time I play it, that lament personalizes the haunting narrative of the movie and the harrowing experiences of all those involved in this particular story.”
The audience will experience another moving score based on the World War II era with an excerpt from the 2001 ten-part television documentary Band of Brothers. Michael Kamen’s emotional music helps tell the story of Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, assigned to the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army. Led by Captain Dick Winters, Easy Company executes its mission to support the Allied landings on Utah Beach during the D-Day attack on German-held France. Produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, the documentary won six Emmy awards, a Golden Globe, an American Film Institute award, and a Peabody award.
The second half of the program will be presented by the National Symphony Orchestra led by its new music director Gianandrea Noseda. Noseda was named the National Symphony Orchestra’s seventh music director in January 2016. He has served as Music Director of the Teatro Regio Torino in Turin, Italy since 2007. Noseda also serves as Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Principal Conductor of the Orquestra de Cadaqués, and Artistic Director of the Stresa Festival in Italy. In addition to eight weeks with the NSO, highlights of Noseda’s 2017–2018 season include appearances with the Israel Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, and Orchestre de Paris, and a tour of the Far East with the London Symphony Orchestra, in addition to concerts in London. In May 2018, he will lead the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at Carnegie Hall for the first time.
The NSO will perform Leonard Bernstein’s Overture to Candide; Ludwig van Beethoven’s Finale from Symphony No. 3 Eroica; Sergei Prokofiev’s “Young Juliet” and “Montagues and Capulets” from Romeo and Juliet; Georges Bizet’s Les Toréadors from Carmen Suite No. 1; and Gioachino Rossini’s Finale from William Tell Overture. The concert will conclude with a joint performance with the NSO and Marine Band on John Philip Sousa’s march “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”