The concert will be in the Kiel High School Performing Arts Center and admission is free.
KIEL – Kiel Municipal Band’s 97th season kicks off at 7 p.m. April 25 in the Kiel High School Performing Arts Center.
According to a news release, the concert’s theme, “Deutcher Tänze” (“German Dances”), is a tribute to Kiel’s German heritage and the spectrum of German music, especially dance music.
The program leads with a march by Kiel composer Emil Meinardus, “Pride of the Town.”
Emil Meinardus was Kiel’s own ‘music man’ from the later 19th to the 20th century.
Meinardus was one of the founders of the KMB, organized orchestras and choirs, and had a music store in Chilton.
He composed the “Pride of Town” march, dedicated to the KMB, later in his life, and it displays the technique and virtuosity of the “Pride of the Town.”
What else is on the program?
Here’s a quick look at the rest of the program:
- J.S. Bach’s contribution to dance music is heard in “Minuet and Rondeau,” an arrangement taken from one of his orchestral suites.
- Ludwig van Beethoven composed the “Turkish March” as incidental music for a play.
- Johannes Brahm’s “Hungarian Dance No. 5” is perhaps the best known of this group, with alternating fast and slow sections.
- “Kinizsi,” by J.W. Fučík. Fučík (1872-1916) was from a Czech family that lived in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The march honors Pál Kinizsi, (1432–1494) a Hungarian general in the service of Hungarian army who reputedly never lost a battle against the Ottoman Turks. This march displays some of the new percussion instruments introduced into the band and orchestra in the 19th century.
- “Waltz Time with Johann Strauss” is an arrangement for band by John Cacavas that contains themes from several of his most famous pieces.
- Kurt Weill, German composer of the mid-20th century and immigrant to America prior to World War II, wrote both in the classical concert genre and popular music. “Tribute to Kurt Weill” is a collection of several of his musical theater hits, many of which were produced on Broadway. He also wrote a short fox-trot “Berlin im Licht” (“Berlin in Lights”), which was written for a celebration of the arts and of electric light in Berlin in 1928. This will be performed by the KMB in a new arrangement by KMB Conductor Jon Meyer.
- Also on the program are “Lili Marlene,” a popular song during World War II; “Nibelungen March,” a march based on themes from the operas of Richard Wagner; and “Birdland,” by Viennese composer Josef Zawinul. “Birdland” is a rock tune made popular in the 1970s by the band Weather Report.
- The concert concludes with the “March from Symphonic Metamorphosis” by Paul Hindemith. Written in 1949, it is one of the classics of modern German music, heard here in an arrangement for band by Hindemith’s student Keith Wilson.
Where is the concert and what’s the admission?
The concert is at the Kiel High School Performing Arts Center, 210 Raider Heights. It is family-friendly, handicapped accessible and open to everyone.
There is no admission charge, but people can make a free-will offering at the concert.
Contact Brandon Reid at [email protected].