Wheaton Municipal Band explores ‘All the Earth and Air’ at July 18 concert

On Thursday, July 18, the Wheaton Municipal Band will perform Tyler S. Grant’s “All the Earth and Air,” commissioned for Bruce Moss by the Bowling Green State University Band Alumni Society in recognition of his 30 years of dedicated leadership as director of bands. But there’s plenty more to satisfy every musical taste.

The concert will be at 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Park in downtown Wheaton. The program begins with Katabj Copley’s “Infinity,” and exciting interstellar composition which uses a variety of rhythmic and structural textures. Copley said, “With INFINITY I wanted to create the sense of shooting stars flying through the infinite playground known as space.” As the piece begins the world of space is filled with stars running through the skies. An exciting work, this piece is a perfect way to start a program.

Henry Mancini would have been 100 years old this year. His contribution to the music of film is epic. The Wheaton Municipal Band will pay tribute to Mancini with a medley of this works including “Moon River,” Baby Elephant Walk,” and “Peter Gunn.” Of course, there will be several marches to please the loyal audience.

Also featured on the program are two soloists from the band.

First, Molly Frederick plays a French horn solo, “Harvest Light” by James Naigus. Frederick lives in Batavia and graduated from the University of Illinois in Champaign. As a freelance musician, she joined the Wheaton Municipal Band at 15 years old.

The other soloist is French horn player Mark Robinson; however, Robinson will be featured as a vocalist singing “Stars” by Claude-Michel Schonberg. Robinson grew up in Joliet and was encouraged to take up music by his mother, to keep him out of trouble.

For more information, check out www.wheatonmunicipalband.org.