The New Horizons Band of Western New York will celebrate America's Veterans in a rousing concert on Nov. 10.
The Monday concert, at 6:30 p.m. in Harry A. King Concert Hall at the State University of New York at Fredonia, is free and open to the public.
Music Director Katherine McKay will lead the band in celebrating veterans' contributions with “Anthems of the Six Armed Forces” and performing Michael Kamen's “Band of Brothers Symphonic Suite,” written for the World War II television miniseries “Band of Brothers” produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks.
The varied program will include light classics “Three Ayres from Gloucester” by Hugh Stuart and “Shenandoah” by Frank Ticheli, conducted by Donald Keddie, alongside film scores from “How to Train Your Dragon” by John Powell, conducted by Helen Ihasz, and “The Great Race” by Henry Mancini. The New Horizons Jazz Band led by Fredonia Music Education student, Alex Bowser, will play “Come Fly with Me,” written for Frank Sinatra, “The Shadow of Your Smile,” a GRAMMY and Academy Award-winning song, and Cole Porter's “Easy to Love.”
The New Horizons Concert Band will close the concert with “Swingin' on the Moon,” an entertaining medley of American jazz standards “Blue Moon,” “Moonlight Serenade,” and “How High the Moon,” and will send audience members home humming John Denver's “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”
The New Horizons Band of Western New York regularly rehearses at the School of Music at SUNY Fredonia. Founded in 2005, the band provides opportunities for mature adults to learn to play a musical instrument and to enjoy playing in ensembles with others.
Music Director and Conductor McKay, who is a professor emeritus of Music Education at SUNY Fredonia, founded New Horizons band in Fredonia, NY, and Hagerstown, MD, and has guest conducted New Horizons bands in the U.S. and Canada.
