Semper Fidelis: USMC 250th Gala Concert

This year as we celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the Marine Corps, “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band; "The Commandant's Own," The United States Marine Drum & Bugle Corps; and the United States Fleet Marine Corps Composite Band will perform together on one stage for the first time in history. Enjoy the livestream of "Semper Fidelis: USMC 250th Gala Concert" at 3 p.m. (ET), Sunday, March 23, here.

Marine Corps music has officially been in existence almost as long as the Corps itself. Only a couple of decades after the Corps was created in 1775, an Act of Congress established the United States Marine Band in 1798, originally consisting of a Drum Major, a Fife Major, and 32 drummers and fifers.

According to the Marine Corps Music band manual used by fleet Marine Corps bands, “Military history has established that musical units are an integral part of the Marine Corps. Marine Corps Bands are an important stimulus to morale and esprit de corps and … a vital link to ceremonial traditions.”

“I thought it was very important that we mark the 250th anniversary of the Marine Corps and use all of Marine music to do it,” Marine Band Director Lieutenant Col. Ryan Nowlin said. “I want people to see the breadth, the reach and the scope of the musical impact on the Marine Corps and celebrate the Marine Corps by using all of those musicians.”

Captain Steve Talbot, Head of Marine Corps Fleet Music, was integral to the coordination of the fleet Marine musicians traveling to D.C. from Marine Corps bases throughout the Continental United States as well as Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe Bay and III Marine Expeditionary Force in Okinawa, Japan.

Talbot said: “I love that this program features members from ‘The President’s Own,’ ‘The Commandant’s Own’ and the Marine fleet band program, and that it includes core repertoire that our bands have performed over many, many years.”

The program will begin with “The Commandant’s Own” The United States Marine Drum & Bugle Corps performing Nowlin’s arrangement of The National Anthem, followed by “Walking With Heroes,” by Paul Lovatt-Cooper, conducted by Captain Courtney R. Lawrence, the unit’s Director and Executive Officer. Lovatt-Cooper had this to say about the piece:

The idea behind the title is that as humans we remember great people living and passed who have touched our lives and have made a big impact on how we lead our lives: people like our loved ones, family members, friends, and even religious leaders and celebrities. They have either taught us, helped us to understand, or lead their lives by example and in our eyes, are heroes. We look up to these people and remember them as heroes. Their spirit and influence stays with us wherever we are. Thus, we are ‘Walking with Heroes.’

The United States Fleet Marine Corps Composite Band will continue the program with Robert Jager’s “Esprit de Corps.” Jager served in the United States Navy and was an instructor of basic music theory at the Navy School of Music in Washington, D.C. He was promoted to staff arranger of the school in 1964 when it moved to Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and began including students from the Army and Marine Corps. Former Marine Band Director Colonel John R. Bourgeois, commissioned Jager in 1984 to write “Esprit de Corps.” In just more than five minutes of music, Jager lends his unique treatment to The Marines’ Hymn. From colonial fifes and drums to modern force protection in air, on land, and over the sea, he takes the listener on a musical journey through the history and worldly experience of Marines. Printed on the music, as a tribute to the Marine Band and its former director, Jager instructs the conductor to lead the ensemble at a spirited “Tempo di Bourgeois.”

Following this high-octane composition, Quantico Marine Band’s CWO3 Katherine T. Genovese will conduct “A Century of Service,” a march written by Nowlin in 2018 to honor the anniversary of women in the Marine Corps.

On Aug. 13, 1918, in Washington, D.C., 40-year-old Opha May Johnson was the first of about 300 women who initially enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve for service during World War I. Almost 100 years later, Nancy Wilt, the national historian of the Women Marines Association and director/curator of the Women of the Corps Collection, wrote a letter to the Marine Band’s then-Director Colonel Jason K. Fettig, asking the band to honor the centennial with a new march. Fettig agreed and selected then-Assistant Director Captain Ryan Nowlin to musically mark the occasion. Speaking about his work, Nowlin said:

I spent an hour and a half on the phone with [Wilt] to get my musical ideas, all of which are inspired by the story of these first women Marines answering the nation’s call in 1918. I wrote these melodies constantly rising in pitch to symbolize that always reaching, always growing, that determined spirit of these women who volunteered in 1918.

“I’m very excited to conduct the group and this piece,” Genovese said, noting that she knows many of the members from different duty stations and others from her time as a student. During the 100th anniversary of women in the Marine Corps, Genovese was on Parris Island and remains proud of her time at the historic 4th Recruit Training Battalion.

The program will continue with Genovese conducting Symphonic Scenario from Victory at Sea by Richard Rodgers, which he wrote for the documentary series Victory at Sea and condensed into a feature-length film released in 1954. Throughout the piece, listeners will hear the theme carried primarily by the trumpets which evokes a sense of the boundlessness of life at sea as well as the sounds of an ever-present sense of danger, a rousing call to arms, ominous crescendos, and the sounds of battle. And to honor those who have given their lives in service to our country, the Composite Band will play James Stephenson’s setting of “Taps” to allow the audience to take a moment to reflect. The first half of the program will close with George W. Warren’s version of “God of Our Fathers,” arranged by former Marine Band arranger Thomas Knox for the first inauguration of Ronald Reagan.

“The President’s Own” will perform on the second half of the concert.

“For this gala concert, I wanted to celebrate the Corps—not just music’s role in the United States Marine Corps, but the Corps itself,” Nowlin said. “So, for the Marine Band portion of the concert, we start with ‘Semper Fidelis,’ which is only second to The Marines’ Hymn in the heart of a Marine, and it was written by John Philip Sousa, the 17th Director of the Marine Band. And Semper Fidelis runs deeply in our veins.”

Nowlin thought it would be fun to show the genesis of The Marines’ Hymn, so he programmed Jacques Offenbach’s Galop from Geneviève de Brabant, to allow listeners to hear the actual origins of our hymn. And in conclusion, the band will perform a new composition: Onsby Rose’s Symphony No. 2, The Sacred Cloth. Rose was commissioned by the band to create the new symphony in commemoration of the Marine Corps’ semiquincentennial.

“There was one composer that came to mind and that was Dr. Onsby Rose. I wanted to hear what this anniversary meant to him,” Nowlin said.

Rose, a former member of The United States Drum & Bugle Corps, is an accomplished composer with a love and connection to the Marine Corps.

Nowlin continued: “So I built the program around that piece, knowing that we would acknowledge what it felt like and meant to all of us to be Marines, to love Marines, to serve as Marines or to have members of our families who serve as Marines; I knew it would be captured there.”

“The Marine dress blue uniform is a sacred cloth to all of us who are Marines,” Rose said.

The symbolism of the dress blue uniform and the required traits that come with being a U.S. Marine heavily influenced Rose throughout the composition. And while the dress blues will seen on stage, so will “The President’s Own” in their elaborate uniforms featuring white braided epaulettes, and “The Commandant’s Own” in their ceremonial red and white uniforms adorned with the distinctive scarlet and gold breast cords.

“I can think of no better way to kick off our year-long 250th birthday celebration than to collaborate with our fellow Marine musicians in this historic event,” Lawrence said.

That sentiment was echoed by Master Gunnery Sgt. Michael Stanley, Senior Enlisted Advisor, Marine Corps Fleet Bands:

This concert showcases the versatility of the entire Marine Corps music program. People have seen Marine Corps bands across the globe, people see ‘The President’s Own’ on tour and throughout the Washington D.C., area, and ‘The Commandant’s Own’ on the DCI circuit and their annual tour on the West Coast. But this is the first time in history that all three organizations have come together at one time, and I don't think that there is a better show of unity for the 250th commemoration of the Marine Corps than showcasing the musical talents of all three organizations.

Those musical talents will be on full display throughout the program, and finally when the three ensembles come together for “The Marines’ Hymn” during the “Semper Fidelis: USMC 250th Gala Concert,” as we celebrate the Corps and its sacred cloth.

Complete Program

Livestream