Naperville, Wheaton municipal bands open summer seasons

The Naperville and Wheaton municipal bands will launch their outdoor summer concert seasons Thursday with music under the stars and lights.

The Naperville Municipal Band, an ensemble founded in 1859 that currently has about 90 musicians, will open its season with a concert at 7:30 p.m. in Central Park, 104 E. Benton Ave., titled "Another Opening, Another Show."

An eighth-grade musician from each middle school in Naperville Unit District 203 and Indian Prairie Unit District 204 will perform with the band for two numbers, said Ron Keller, the band's director and conductor for the past 53 years.

"We want them to know that music is for life," Keller said.

The band's current roster, he said, features musicians from age 17 to 85.

Each participating student also will receive a $200 scholarship for music lessons, he said.

The Naperville band's June 14 show, dubbed "Family Night," will include a tribute to twins and couples in the band, as well as a salute to Naperville and Illinois.

That second concert also will see a graduating high school senior become the first recipient of the Ronald Keller Scholarship, a scholarship fund Keller recently established to help students who aspire to become band directors.

Keller said he is contributing the initial $2,500 award with the hope other music education lovers will pitch in.

"We're setting it up so that anybody can contribute to it," he said.

Scholarship applicants were interviewed and asked to perform solos.

"I was impressed with their maturity and enthusiasm about music," Keller said.

Keller was born in Naperville, grew up surrounded by musical family members and attended high school in the city. He said he wants to give students with similar dreams a leg up.

And, he said, he has no plans to retire from his band director post - but he does want to leave a legacy behind that demonstrates his love for music.

"I enjoy it. I got to live a dream. From the time I was a freshman in high school, that's all I ever talked about," he said.

The June 21 show will feature Rene Rosas, one of the band's two assistant conductors, featuring an "In the Good Ol' Summertime" theme.

The iconic "1812 Overture" and other patriotic favorites will dominate at the June 28 show, when the band will share the stage with the Naperville Chorus. The group's Jazz Band will be center stage at the July 5 show, Keller said.

Assistant conductor Emily Binder, a tuba player and one of Keller's former students, will lead the July 12 concert, "A Night at the Oscars."

Keller said the July 19 show will feature marches, while the July 26 concert will concentrate on audience requests. After the Aug. 2 and 9 shows, the season will wrap up with a joint concert featuring the Naperville Municipal Band and the Jazz Band.

"I try to have something there for everybody," Keller said.

All concerts are free.

Wheaton's Memorial Park, 208 W. Union Ave., is the scene of a series of free summer concerts featuring the Wheaton Municipal Band under the direction of Bruce Moss. Shows start at 7:30 p.m.

The band features both professional and amateur musicians and, unlike the Naperville Municipal Band, limits its performance schedule to the summer.

"I'm a professional musician. The band has quite a few of them," said Gail Sonkin, oboe and English horn player and vice president of the band's board.

Before each season, she said, musicians, including those who wish to return, go through two weekends of auditions.

"Over 200 musicians auditioned for 87 spots," she said.

The season begins Thursday, June 7, with a show titled "Band Sounds Spectacular!"

"We're celebrating Leonard Bernstein's 100th birthday with the 'Overture to Candide,'" Sonkin said.

The season's first concert also will feature a medley from "Grease."

"He juggles a lot of things when he programs," Sonkin said of Moss' playlists. "Everyone has different musical tastes. He also tries to make it challenging for musicians."

Twenty Wheaton middle school students will join the band at the June 14 concert, which also will feature a salute to Flag Day.

A concert geared toward kids and families, with a wealth of tunes reminiscent of the Wild West, is planned for June 21.

Early arrivers can catch an instrument petting zoo beginning at 6:30 p.m. June 21. Band members will allow youngsters to learn about and try out their instruments.

"June 28 will be a patriotic concert that features almost all patriotic music," Sonkin said. The U.S. Air Force Band will join the Wheaton Municipal Band on stage that night.

After marching in the Wheaton Fourth of July Parade, the band will be back in Memorial Park for a July 5 concert that will highlight pieces conducted by band directors who also are members of the band.

A 6:30 p.m. dance lesson will precede the July 12 concert when instructors from the DeSarge Danceworld of Naperville teach concertgoers how to do the samba.

Guest conductor Col. Lowell E. Graham, a retired U.S. Air Force Band conductor, will lead the evening's program July 19, Sonkin said.

Variety is on the playlist July 26.

"Dr. Moss is calling it 'Something for Everyone!,'" Sonkin said.

Last December, the band was invited to perform at the prestigious International Music Clinic. On Aug. 2, "We are performing some of the pieces that we did at the clinic," Sonkin said.

On Saturday, Aug. 4, the band will perform an 8 p.m. indoor concert in Edman Chapel on the Wheaton College campus, a show that will feature a tribute to Billy Graham and Leonard Bernstein and will include soloist Master Sgt. Kevin Bennear, a vocalist from "The President's Own" United States Marine Band.

The season finishes with an Aug. 9 Jazz Night under the direction of Elmhurst College professor Doug Beach.