An official website of the United States government
Here's how you know
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


News

Sign up for the Marine Band newsletter HERE.

Photo Information

Sunday, Oct. 18 at 2 p.m. (EDT) - Coordinated by cellist Staff Sgt. Charlaine Prescott, the program will feature seven musicians from “The President’s Own” performing 20th and 21st century solo works. The concert, which is free, will take place at John Philip Sousa Band Hall at the Marine Barracks Annex, located at 7th & K Streets, SE, Washington, DC. Free parking is available. The concert will also stream live on the Marine Band website.

Photo by Staff Sgt. Brian Rust

Seven Soloists and a Scream

15 Oct 2015 | Staff Sgt. Rachel Ghadiali United States Marine Band

The 2015 Fall Chamber Series continues this Sunday, Oct. 18, with a concert at 2 p.m. EDT featuring seven soloists performing 20th and 21st century works. The concert is free and no tickets are required and will take place at John Philip Sousa Band Hall at the Marine Barracks Annex in southeast Washington, D.C. Free parking is available under the overpass on 7th street across from the Annex. The concert will also stream live on the Marine Band website www.marineband.marines.mil.

The program will include solo works composed for viola, violin, cello, trumpet, and percussion. According to concert coordinator cellist Staff Sgt. Charlaine Prescott, each performer will demonstrate world-class technical facility and musical intimacy with their intellectually challenging but still approachable pieces.

The first half of the concert will include Until Next Time by Kenji Bunch; Eight Portraits for Violin Alone by Virgil Thomson; and the world premierè of the multi-percussion work Impending Storm by the Master Sgt. Glenn Paulson. In composing Impending Storm, Paulson took field recordings of trains and the elements then collaborated with the Marine Band recording lab personnel to add industrial and railroad sounds to layers of recorded passages featuring Paulson on the marimba, toms, chimes, xylophone, and bass drum. They then identified, manipulated and extracted rhythms from the incidental sounds of the trains to create the recorded layers.

“There was a ‘chance’ element to this piece,” Paulson said. “Whatever everyday sounds that occurred or happened by chance while recording became a part of the piece. The everyday sounds add an interesting rhythmic sense and unique timbre to the sounds of the vibraphone, drums, tam tams, and cymbals used on stage.”

The second half of the concert includes Julie-O by Mark Summer; Cadenza per viola sola by Krzysztof Penderecki; and Sonate No. 6 in E, Opus 27, No. 6 by Eugène Ysaÿe. It will also highlight Staff Sgt. Brandon Eubank performing Stanley Friedman’s contemporary piece Solus for unaccompanied solo trumpet. According to the composer:

The piece makes fun of both trumpeters and composers who take themselves too seriously. The performer begins earnestly, but gradually psychologically falls apart, experiencing a complete breakdown in the third movement. However, in the last movement he returns to stability, but in an altered state of reality, in a kind of schizophrenic onstage-offstage dialogue with himself.

“When performing this work, I have to get into an unstable, unpredictable mindset,” Eubank says. “I have to portray a character that could ‘go off’ at any moment. Part of the challenge of Solus is making each character and each musical gesture convincing to the audience. And at one point, I even have to scream.”

The concert is free; no tickets are required. Free parking is available in the parking lot under the overpass on 7th Street across from the annex. The closest Metro stations are the Washington Navy Yard (green line) and Eastern Market (blue/orange/silver lines). The concert will also stream live on the Marine Band website beginning at 2 p.m. EDT.

Complete program and notes

Directions and parking