Wheaton band to honor Morton Gould at free indoor concert

The Wheaton Municipal Band will perform its annual free indoor concert at 8 p.m. Saturday, July 27, in Wheaton College’s 2,400-seat Edman Chapel near Washington and Franklin streets.

The concert features the music of composer Morton Gould and features an appearance by his daughter, Abby G. Burton.

Gould, who died in 1996, was a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer who wrote his first composition when he was 6. He found work during the Depression in New York’s vaudeville and music theater and was the staff pianist when Radio City Music Hall opened.

He served as a conductor for major orchestras in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Japan and Australia. A prolific writer for many different genres, his works include symphonies, Broadway show tunes, concert band works and television and movie background and theme songs. He received numerous awards, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and honors at the Kennedy Center.

The Wheaton Municipal Band will play a number of his well-known works, including “Jericho Rhapsody for Band.” Gould’s daughter will share stories of her father and what it was like growing up in her creative family.

The concert also will feature Master Sgt. Jay Niepoetter, bass clarinetist with the U.S. Marine Band since June 1988. Niepoetter played in the Wheaton Municipal Band prior to his appointment with the prestigious “President’s Own” band.