July 22, 2012

The music of Karl King always appears on each concert program, and this week’s offerings included the march, Cle Elum Eagles, dedicated to an Eagles Band in Cle Elum, Washington; a circus intermezzo, Arabian Nights, and one of King’s famous galops, Royal Hippodrome.   In addition, Harry Alford’s march, The Purple Carnival, was programed.

Assistant Conductor Dr. David Klee conducted the King Band on two selections; George Landers’ March by C.W. Dalbey, and Leroy Anderson’s popular waltz, Belle Of The Ball.

Other works on the program included a classic band selection by English composer Gustav Holst, his First Suite in Eb for Military Band.  This work is a mainstay of concert bands, and includes three movements: Chaconne, Intermezzo, and March.  The First Suite in E-flat  is considered one of the cornerstone masterworks in the concert band repertoire.  Officially premiered in 1920 at the Royal Military School of Music, the manuscript was originally completed in 1909 by the composer. This First Suite was the force that convinced many other prominent composers that serious music could be written specifically for the combination of woodwinds, percussion and brass.

Dr. Michael Golemo from Ames, Iowa, was the special guest soloist for this program.   Dr. Golemo is Professor and Chair of the Music Department and Director of Bands at Iowa State University.  In addition to his administrative duties, he conducts the Wind Ensemble, the top concert band at Iowa State, and is also the director of the Ames Municipal Band.

Dr. Golemo performed two selections on Soprano Saxophone with the King Band.  First was the technically exciting Flight Of The Bumblebee by Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, followed by the beautiful and haunting theme song from the movie The Mission, Gabriel’s Oboe.

In addition, Golemo joined the King Band’s Dixieland Combo in performing Big Band Dixie, a medley of Midnight In Moscow, Muskrat Ramble, and That’s A-Plenty.

Other combo members included Tim Miller from Humboldt on Trumpet, Paul Bloomquist from Dayton on trombone, Alan Bridge from Storm Lake on tenor saxophone, and David Staron from Marshalltown on tuba.

The concert closed with John Philip Sousa’s classic march, King Cotton, followed by the playing of our national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner.