Mt. Prospect band to open concert series

The Mount Prospect Community Band kicks off its 2009 summer concert season tonight (Monday) with that noted musicologist SpongeBob Square Pants, but before the season is over audiences will hear Broadway tunes, a French horn player with the CSO and music that's out of this world.

The band opens its 34th summer season at 7:30 p.m. tonight with its traditional children's concert. Taking its cue from the Business Week article that proclaimed Mount Prospect the best place to raise children in the nation, the band is showcasing what makes Mount Prospect so great for kids - the police and fire departments, Scouts, the high school, and "every children's organization (in Mount Prospect) has been invited," says Ralph Wilder, the band's longtime musical director and conductor.

Playing music from "Mary Poppins," and "Aladdin," and other children's favorites, the band will be joined onstage by a bunch of cartoon characters come to life and the "Jonas Brothers." The opening piece is "Prospect Loyalty," the Prospect High School fight song.

The band's seven Monday night summer concerts all begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Lions Park Memorial Band Shell. All concerts are free.

The concerts typically last one hour, after which the band leaves the stage and goes into the nearby recreation center to rehearse for next week's concert, Wilder said.

Wayne and Kathleen Messmer, well-known professional singers and entertainers will highlight an all-Broadway night on June 22. They donate their performance every year, Wilder said.

Another big catch for the band this year is Jim Smelser, a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's horn section since 2000. Smelser, who lives in Mount Prospect, spied Wilder and his wife leaving a CSO concert last fall, and yelled over to him. "I'd like to play with your band!"

Delighted, Wilder set it up, and on July 6, Smelser will solo with the band on a contemporary piece, "Concerto for French Horn and Band," by John Zdechlik. Smelser also is playing for free, Wilder said.

Another highlight this summer will be July 20, when the band commemorates the first manned landing on the Moon with a program of "space" music, topped by band member Randy Steinberg's composition, "Moon Symphony."

The summer season will end with the band's traditional "Do It Yourself" Sousa concert, led by renowned Sousa impersonator Michael Golemo, the director of bands at Iowa State University.