“The President’s Own” United States Marine Band will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 19, in Kenneth R. Williams Auditorium at Winston-Salem State University.
The concert, part of the U.S. Marine Band’s 2005 national concert tour, is sponsored by the WSSU Lyceum Cultural Events Performing Arts Series, and is free and open to the public.
In the style of the band’s 17th director John Philip Sousa, whoinitiated the concert tour tradition in 1891, Marine Band director Lieutenant Colonel Michael J. Colburn has chosen a diverse mix of programs from traditional band repertoire and marches to instrumental solos.
Programs are rotated throughout the tour to accommodate different concert venues. As the programs rotate, so will the soloists. In Winston-Salem the soloists will be double bassist Aaron Clay and mezzo-soprano Sara Dell’Omo.
By late November, the Marine Band will have performed a total of 42 concerts in 42 days on its 2005 tour, which includes engagements in western Virginia, southern West Virginia, western North Carolina, Tennessee, northern Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico.
Patrons may reserve tickets (limit four per request) by sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Lyceum Cultural Events, Winston-Salem State University, Campus Box 19432, Winston-Salem, NC 27110 or they may pick them up at the university ticket office in K. R. Williams Auditorium from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. The telephone number for the university ticket office is 336-750-3220. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Ticket holders must be seated by 7:15 p.m. Non-ticket holders will be admitted at that time.
The Marine Band is America’s oldest professional musical organization. Founded in 1798, the band has performed for every U.S. President since John Adams. Given the title “The President’s Own” by Thomas Jefferson, the Marine Band’s primary mission is to provide music for the President of the United States and the Commandant of the Marine Corps.