SEQUIM — The Sequim City Band will present “Clarion of Summer” at the James Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday.
The free outdoor concert will be at 3 p.m. at the center at 350 N. Blake Ave. Lawn chairs, sunblock and hats are recommended.
As the name of the concert implies, the pieces are all fanfares, overtures or other rousing announcements of summer.
Under the direction of Tyler Benedict, the all-volunteer community musicians will take on the “Orpheus Overture” by Jacques Offenbach. The French composer portrayed a satirical treatment of the classic myth of Orpheus in the Underworld.
Recognizable tune
Audience members should recognize its most famous dance, the Can-Can. Clarinetist Miles Vokurka is featured as a soloist.
Also featuring the entire clarinet section is “Clarinetics,” an aerobic and acrobatic exercise that Richard Meyer wrote to show off the musicality of the instrument.
“Strike Up the Band” by George and Ira Gershwin was composed for a movie of the same in 1927 and revised in 1928 and 1930. The film was a satire on America’s taste for war.
In 1940, a Micky Rooney/Judy Garland film came out that shared the title song but otherwise had nothing to do with the previous movie.
In 1936, the Gershwins gave the title piece to the University of California at Los Angeles and it became one of the school songs.
“Bye Bye Birdie” by Charles Strouse and Lee Adams is a musical inspired by the drafting of Elvis Presley. It was a Tony-award-winning Broadway show. This medley of songs includes “Put on a Happy Face,” “One Last Kiss” and “Kids,” among others.
The “Invercargill March” by Alex Lithgow was named after the boyhood home of the composer in southern New Zealand. It has become one of the four most popular military marches in the world.
“Our Flirtations March” by J.P. Sousa might not be one of the other three, but it stands on its own. Sousa was responsible for the incidental music for the musical of the same name.
Saxophonist to shine
In Sammy Nestico’s “Persuasion,” saxophonist Bobbie Usselman will shine, organizers said.
Nestico was staff arranger for the USAF and USMC bands, and his compositions have been heard in more than 60 television shows including “M.A.S.H.” and “The Love Boat.”
For more information, see www.sequimcityband.org.
