'Swing Into Spring' with Community Concert Band
The Arlington Heights Community Concert Band will present "Swing Into Spring" at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 30, at the Forest View Educational Center Theater, 2121 S. Goebbert Road in Arlington Heights.
This is the last indoor concert of the season. The band will also be collecting nonperishable and canned food items to benefit the Elk Grove Township Food Pantry.
This year's Spring Concert will take the audience on an audio tour of rhythmic and moving medleys and scores. Listen to "Urban Dances," a piece with a double-time feel that features percussion and brass rhythms for strutting.
Assistant conductor Joan Moore will lead Alfred Reed's three-part overture, "The Hounds of Spring." This piece presents a magical portrait of a young love in springtime and is based on a poem by Algernon Swinburne.
The easy listening "James Bond Suite" features the classic "James Bond Theme." "For Your Eyes Only" and "Goldfinger" is sure to be a crowd pleaser.
A poem written by 19-year-old John Gillespie Magee Jr. was the inspiration for James Curnow's "Where Never Lark or Eagle Flew." Magee was an American pilot enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force to fight in the Battle of Britain at the time when the United States was still officially neutral.
In England, Magee was flying at high altitude in a new model of the Spitfire V, when the inspiration for the poem "High Flight" came to him. He completed his poem when he landed and sent a copy to his parents. Three months later he was killed in a midair collision.
Through the music, one can visualize what Magee saw flying his plane and share in his soaring. He wrote "(I've) put out my hand and touched the face of God."
Conductor Mike Madonia is in his 37th year of music education. He is passionate about creating beautiful musical sounds and inspiring musicians of all talents to rise and succeed.
"Chorale and Shaker Dance" is special to the band's conductor. This piece is made up of two main melodies that are used in alteration and combination throughout the piece, plus it contains numerous meter changes, syncopated rhythms and dynamics.
"Alleluia! Laudamus Te" by Alfred Reed is also a performance challenge for a community band. Mike used his teaching talents to create a broad, sustained, lyrical style of performance to achieve the maximum audience impact.
Admission is free, but the band accepts donations to offset the cost of purchasing new music and outdated musical instruments. The band is currently featuring its new timpani that were purchased with audience donations.
To reserve tickets, call (847) 718-7702 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday or email ahccbtickets@gmail.com. Remaining tickets will be available at the door.
Information about the band is available at www.arlingtonheightsband.org, or contact band President Joan Rogers at rogers.joan@comcast.net.
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