The 50-member New Horizons Band of Western New York will present their Fall Concert at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. The free concert will be held in the Harry A. King Concert Hall on the SUNY Fredonia Campus.

After opening the concert with Jack Stamp’s arrangement of the Star Spangled Banner as a “love song to the country” in a setting intended to portray the nation’s stirred patriotism following the attacks of 9/11, the band, under the of Dr. Katherine M. McKay, music director, will show their support and respect for the Republic of Ukraine by performing their stirring national anthem. Next on the program will be Marta Keen’s Homeward Bound, a popular and widely performed contemporary choral piece that has become an anthem for many soldiers returning home from foreign wars.

Windstar concert overture (1981) by Claude T. Smith contrasts bold horn and trumpet fanfares with light, fast segments surrounding a slow romantic centerpiece with a soleful euphonium solo. John Philip Sousa’s march The Free Lance (1906) brightens the program with its many march tunes, which Sousa composed for his operetta of the same name. The first half of the program will conclude with Ron Nelson’s programmatic Mayflower Overture (1958). This overture depicts the journey of pilgrims on the Mayflower in three parts, Departure, Storm, and Arrival in the New World. Its themes are three tunes from the Ainsworth Psalter (1612): Psalm 3, Psalm 136, and Psalm 100.

The New Horizons Jazz Band of Western New York will start the second half of the program under the direction of Fredonia student director Adriel Schoeck. Their first selection will be Bridge Over Troubled Water by Paul Simon and arranged by Paul Baker. The tune for Bridge Over Troubled Water was inspired by “Mary Don’t You Weep” by the Swan Silvertones and their lyric, “I’ll be your bridge over deep water, if you trust in my name.” The tune refers to Paul Simon’s wife Peggy Simon, as the “silver girl” because of her first gray hairs. The second selection will be Ran Kan Kan by Tito Puente and arranged by Michael Philip Mossman.

Puente was an American musician of Puerto Rican descent best known for his most famous song Oye Como Va. Ran Kan Kan is one of the Mambo-style pieces that his orchestra performed at the Palladium Ballroom where the US mambo craze began in 1948.

The New Horizons Band of Western New York will start their second half under the direction of Dr. Katherine M. McKay, music director. The last four selections in the program will take the audience on a musical stroll through the decades of band members’ heydays. Two Moods Overture (1947) by Clare Grundman will be a reminder of the cinema music of the late 1940s and 50s. A stroll through the 1970s with The Best of Carole King, will feature, “It’s Too Late,” “You’ve Got a Friend,” and “I Feel the Earth Move.” Next the band will perform Hoagy Carmichael’s Star Dust (1929), one of the most recorded pop tunes in history and a top jazz standard. It appeared on the recording charts with over fifteen artists across three decades. The band will finish the stroll in the 1950s with Elvis Presley hits “Jailhouse Rock,” “All Shook Up,” “Love Me Tender,” “C’mon Everybody,” and “Can’t Help Falling In Love,” that were featured in the Broadway musical, All Shook Up.

The New Horizons Band Steering Committee members are: Wendy Ohnmeiss, Chair; Ellen Cornell, Vice-Chair; Nancy Larson, Secretary; John Krestic, Treasurer; Carol Corcoran; Karen Davis; Bill Loftus; Marti Potter; and James Wilcox. Janet Stout is the liaison/contact person for New Horizons Band of WNY to the New Horizons International Music Association.

The New Horizons Band of Western New York (NHBWNY) provides opportunities for chronologically-gifted adults to learn to play a musical instrument and to enjoy playing with others. The band reflects the New Horizons International Music Association philosophy that music can provide challenging intellectual activity, social involvement, and “the opportunity to develop one’s musical potential to the level that will be personally rewarding.” (http://newhorizonsmusic.org)

“Music making is just too much fun to leave only to younger folks,” McKay said. “Almost anyone can enjoy learning to play a musical instrument when good instruction, a friendly environment, and lots of helping hands are available.”

The NHBWNY will rehearse Wednesdays 3 to 4:45 p.m. and Fridays 3 to 5:30 p.m. Feb. 1 to April 19 with Music Director Katherine L. McKay, our fleet of outstanding retired music teachers/conductors, and Fredonia music student instructors. Band, rehearsals, and lessons meet in the School of Music’s Mason Hall on the Fredonia State University of New York campus. A reasonable registration fee covers the cost of instruction and music. It is possible to return to playing or learn to play an instrument as a senior adult! For more information and contacts, visit our website: https://www.fredonia.edu/academics/colleges-schools/schoolmusic/music/community/newhorizons.