By SFC Eric Miller, USMA Band
New York - As the West Point Band prepares for its popular Music Under the Stars concert series, two particular summer performances resonate with its members. On July 3rd and 4th, the Concert Band will perform with the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City. The Philharmonic will perform the world premiere of Bramwell Tovey’s Urban Runway and "Four Dance Episodes" from Rodeo. The Academy Band will feature its Staff Arranger, Master Sgt. Douglas Richard, performing his composition Celebration for a New Era. The concert will also showcase The Official West Point March and Donald Grantham’s Farewell to Gray, a piece commissioned by the West Point Band in honor of the U.S. Military Academy’s bicentennial celebration. The concert will conclude with both the Philharmonic and the West Point Band performing Sousa’s Liberty Bell and Stars and Stripes as well as the service songs of the Armed Forces.
The joint performance underscores a unique association between the West Point Band and the New York Philharmonic. The Academy Band performed with the Philharmonic in 1964, and Philip Egner, composer of On Brave Old Army Team and The Official West Point March, was actually a cellist in the Philharmonic prior to his appointment as Teacher of Music and Bandmaster of the Academy Band in 1909.
In February of 2008, Academy Band musician Staff Sgt. Denver Dill performed with other principal players of the Philharmonic as a part of its "Day of Berio" concert. Like Staff Sgt. Dill, many members of the Academy Band have also garnered a relationship with musicians in the Philharmonic during their musical studies. The West Point Band and New York Philharmonic affiliation has also facilitated recent solo performances for Philharmonic musicians to be showcased at West Point. For many summers, the principal trombonist of the Philharmonic, Joseph Alessi, has performed with the Academy Band. This summer, Philip Smith, the Philharmonic’s principal trumpet, will be featured on August 3rd at Trophy Point.
Undoubtedly, this unique Independence Day collaboration between both musical organizations will not only be entertaining, but is destined to evoke the patriotic sensibilities of its listeners.
See the West Point Band and the New York Philharmonic in "Musical Fireworks" on July 3rd at 7:30 p.m. or July 4th at 3:00 p.m. in Avery Fisher Hall. For further concert information, or to purchase tickets, please visit the New York Philharmonic’s website at www.nyphil.org or call (212) 875-5656.
