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Strike Up the Band!

Penn Central Wind Band to Present 23rd Annual “Stars, Stripes, and Sousa” Concert on Friday, July 30, on Weis Center Patio

LEWISBURG, Pa. — After a two-year pandemic-related hiatus, the Penn Central Wind Band will present its 23rd annual “Stars, Stripes, and Sousa” concert beginning at 7 p.m. on Friday, July 30 on the front patio of the Weis Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of Bucknell University. Admission is free. Although limited seating will be available, patrons are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs.

Bucknell Professor William Kenny, music, is the band’s conductor. 

“Although the performance location may be new to us, we will be playing music of Americana that will be familiar to many. And, after such a challenging year, I’m very excited to be getting this fine band back together,” says Kenny.

The program includes vintage American marches, including two infrequently performed marches by the “March King,” John Philip Sousa. 

“Sousa wrote well over one hundred marches, but today there is just a relative handful that remain in the public ear,” says Kenny. “The band will be playing two great ones that I’ve never performed before: ‘Solid Men to the Front,’ and ‘The Bride Elect’ — two Sousa marches that have been on my march bucket list for a long time.”

The program also includes lighter fare that would have been staples on concerts from the early- to mid 20th century including Leory Anderson’s “The Rakes of Mallow,” and Eduard Strauss’ “Clear Track Polka.” “Eduard’s brother, Johann, might be known as the Waltz King, but Eduard had some delightful musical tricks up his sleeve, too,” says Kenny.

The band includes professional musicians from throughout central Pennsylvania, as well as players that travel from New York and Virginia to rehearse and perform. It has been honored by having received invitations to perform for the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association conference in Pittsburgh and the national meeting of the Association of Concert bands in Williamsport. The band is a recipient of the Sudler Silver Scroll awarded by the John Philip Sousa society in recognition of the band’s exceptional musicianship and its musical contributions to the region.

Bucknell has sponsored the band for the past 28 years to further enrich the arts environment of the Susquehanna Valley.

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CONTACT: Bill Kenny, 570-577-2238, william.kenny@bucknell.edu

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