Oneonta Community Concert Band To Present Flag Day Performance
ONEONTA—The Oneonta Community Concert Band will celebrate Flag Day with a concert in the large pavilion at Wilber Park on Sunday, June 14 at 3 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, with donations gratefully accepted, and the pavilion is handicap accessible. According to a press release, listeners can bring lawn chairs or find seating at picnic tables in the pavilion. Kerri Hogle conducts.
Organizers said that in keeping with America250 celebrations, the program will feature music that has inspired Americans during key points of the nation’s history.
“I felt it especially important to include music of the Revolutionary Period,” Hogle said. “Tunes like ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy’ and the ‘Chester’ hymn written by William Billings encouraged colonial soldiers and citizens alike, and they continue to inspire American composers.
“This is evident in ‘The Original Thirteen’ by James Ployhar, ‘A Colonial Rhapsody’ by Edward Madden and ‘American Symphonette’ by Morton Gould, all of which are on the program,” Hogle said.
She noted that Francis Scott Key’s “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which opens the concert, commemorates the Battle of Fort Henry during the War of 1812 and said that Charles Torian’s “By the Dawn’s Early Light” takes its cue from that famous line in the national anthem.
Organizers said that World War I is represented by a medley of George M. Cohan songs, including “The Grand Old Flag” and “Over There.” They noted, too, that Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever” and Augustus Ward’s “America, The Beautiful,” which end the concert, “transcend time and era, uniting us in love of country.”
The Oneonta Community Concert Band has been an Oneonta institution since the 1850s and consists of local professional musicians, experienced adults, and advanced students.
Future OCCB concerts include performances during the City of Oneonta’s America250 Celebration in Huntington Park on Sunday, July 5, in the city’s Summer Series on Thursday, July 16 in Neahwa Park, and at Wilber Park on Sunday, August 16. For more information, follow the band on Facebook or call (607) 376-7485.
