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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (5/05)
Contact: Dr. Thomas Stone, 318-869-5235, or Lynn Stewart or Kelsey Johnson, Centenary News Service, 318-869-5120 or318-841-7265

Summer Band Concerts Set for June 14, 21, 23, 28 in Centenary's Hargrove Band Shell; Count Basie Orchestra Lead Trumpeter to be Featured at June 23 Big Band Jazz Event


Crowd gathers around the edge of the Hargrove Memorial Amphitheater at Centenary College for a 2004 Summer Band Concert. The popular annual concerts are free and open to the public. (File Photo)

SHREVEPORT, LA — The Centenary College Summer Band this summer will present four free concerts -- including a Big Band Jazz Concert with former Shreveporter Mike Williams of the Count Basie Orchestra. The concerts are slated for June 14, 21, 23 and 28 in the Hargrove Band Shell on Centenary’s campus.

All performances begin at 8 p.m. and are free and open to the public. Concertgoers are encouraged to bring seat cushions, lawn chairs and picnic baskets.

This year’s concert series will feature a wide variety of music, including patriotic, classical, Broadway and jazz. Dr. Thomas Stone, director of instrumental music at Centenary, will conduct the ensemble comprised of Shreveport Symphony musicians, Centenary faculty and students, local music teachers and retired military musicians.

The June 14 concert features an all-American program, including music of Morton Gould, Charles Ives, and Leonard Bernstein. George Gershwin’s Catfish Row, a symphonic suite from Porgy and Bess, showcases the talents of soprano Jennifer Dowd and baritone John Gayle. The concert will close with John Philip Sousa's The Stars and Stripes Forever, conducted by Lewis Smith. Smith performs in the trumpet section and is chief executive officer of the concert’s sponsor, Smith & Company, Certified Public Accountants.

The June 21 concert, sponsored by Kilpatrick Life Insurance Company, opens with the brass performing Fanfare La Peri, by Paul Dukas, Malcolm Arnold's Four Scottish Dances, and Cole Porter’s Begin the Beguine. Bass trombonist Dr. J. Mark Thompson will be the featured soloist on Eric Ewazen's Concerto for Bass Trombone. Flutist Sally Horak will perform Night Soliloquy by Kent Kennan. Horak is principal flutist with the Shreveport Symphony and instructor of flute at Centenary. A group of 10 musicians will open the second half of the program with Richard Strauss' Serenade, Op. 7, written when the composer was only 17 years old. The concert culminates with the final two movements of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.

The June 23 concert consists of big band jazz led by Bill Causey Jr. Shreveport native Mike Williams will head-up the trumpet section. Williams plays lead trumpet with the world famous Count Basie Orchestra. Seva May will be the featured vocalist, with an additional performance by her niece, Bethany Hejtmanek, Miss Teen Louisiana 2003.

The final concert, on June 28, is sponsored by AEP Southwestern Electric Power Co. and will open with Richard Strauss’ thrilling Vienna Philharmonic Fanfare, followed by Nicolai's Overture to The Merry Wives of Windsor, Irish Tune from County Derry by Percy Grainger, and Gershwin's Second Prelude. The concert will conclude with Sousa's Semper Fidelis.

The Centenary Summer Band was founded in 1957 by B. P. Causey. The series ran until 1987 and was reformulated during the summer of 2000 by Dr. Stone. The current season marks the sixth season of revival for the series.

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