News

Marine Band: Song and Dance - Sunday, March 31 at 2 p.m. - This concert features music inspired by song and dance. Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances repurposed much of an original work initially composed as a ballet, while Robert Russell Bennett’s Suite of Old American Dances conjures the familiar dance hall tunes of his youth in the Midwest in the early 1900s. Aaron Copland’s Old American Songs, sung by baritone Master Sgt. Kevin Bennear, recalls a similar era and inspiration. Gazebo Dances was inspired by the many small band stands seen throughout the country, particularly in small towns, where public concerts by town bands can often be heard in the summers. This concert will also feature euphonium soloist Peyton Sills, the 2019 Marine Band Concerto Competition winner. A jazz quartet will offer pre-concert music in the lobby beginning at 1:15 p.m. The concert, which takes place at Northern Virginia Community College's Schlesinger Concert Hall, is free and no tickets are required.

Master Classes with the Parris Island Marine Band - On Tuesday, March 19, 2019, members of “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band from Washington, D.C., spent time with the Parris Island Marine Band in master classes and lessons. Members of “The President’s Own” will perform a joint concert with the Parris Island Marine Band at 7 p.m., Friday, March 22. The concert is free and open to the public and will take place at Battery Creek High School in Beaufort, S.C. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Gunnery Sgt. Rachel Ghadiali/released)

Marine Chamber Orchestra: The Darkness and the Light - Sunday, March 24 at 2 p.m. - One of the most striking elements of music is its power to communicate opposites of emotion, and the experience of moving between those emotions. The unique collection of works on this program embodies the visceral journey between these disparate feelings, as well as a virtual journey through the environments of the dark and the light. Michael Gilbertson was a Pulitzer- Prize finalist in music in 2018 and composed his creative concerto for woodwind quintet and chamber orchestra in 2016. Entitled The Cosmos, the work explores the wonders and phenomena of our universe. Paired with this new work is a staple in the solo repertoire, Sergei Prokofiev’s stunning first concerto for piano. The concert concludes with one of the greatest symphonies in the history of classical music, Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 4. Composed when Schubert was only 19 years old and subtitled Tragic by the composer, the Fourth Symphony of the great Austrian prodigy captures the essence of the emotional darkness and light found in music.. The concert, which will take place at Northern Virginia Community College's Schlesinger Concert Hall in Alexandria, is free and no tickets are required.

Chamber Music Series - Sunday, March 17 at 2 p.m. - Several string ensembles will perform various chamber works. The concert, which will take place at John Philip Sousa Band Hall at the Marine Barracks Annex, is free and no tickets are required.

Marine Band: Anthems - Monday, March 11 at 7:30 p.m. -This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great American poet, author, and patriot Walt Whitman. The essence of much of Whitman’s work may be captured within the word “anthem.” His language was one of praise, whether praise for music, for heroism, for nature, or for the human spirit. Whitman observed and elevated common events around him as defining elements of the American experience and celebrated them as virtues in his remarkable prose. In celebration of this special anniversary, the Marine Band has partnered with the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation and the Choral Arts Society of Washington to commission a new work for chorus and band from American composer Dominick DiOrio based on Whitman’s works. Along with the world première of DiOrio’s Silent Moves the Symphony True, the program includes substantial works that also serve as anthems in diverse and interesting ways, culminating with one of the very first symphonies composed for wind band, Hector Berlioz’s monumental Symphonie funèbre et triomphale. The Choral Arts Society of Washington joins the Marine Band for this very special gala concert at the Music Center at Strathmore. Free tickets are required and available at Strathmore.org.