The Naperville Municipal Band will get an earlier than usual start on its outdoor season when it performs a second installment of a salute to music from the stage and screen at its annual spring concert May 15.
“People love music from the movies, so we’re going to continue with that theme for one more show,” said Conductor and Music Director Ron Keller. The first installment was held in March at the Wentz Concert Hall, but the band decided to start their outdoor season early after a scheduling issue caused them to move the show to Naperville’s Central Park, the site of its summer series.
“Moving it to this location is another example of the band’s resilience and innovation,” said Assistant Conductor Emily Binder. “Typically, we would play this show indoors, but in keeping with how the last two years have gone, we needed to pivot. Plan A did not work, so we are now going with Plan B and looking forward to making some great music.”
The show will feature music that people know, even if they couldn’t name the piece, Keller said. Those numbers include the theme from the movie “Patton,” also called “Patton’s March,” an Oscar-nominated composition written by Jerry Goldsmith. The “Colonel Bogey March” may not ring a bell, but it won’t take more than a few notes before you recognize it as the theme from “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” a 1957 film with a score written by Malcolm Arnold, for which he won the Oscar.
“These are real crowd-pleasers with melodies that people recognize,” Keller said.
Assistant Conductor René Rosas will take over to conduct selections from the stage play “Mamma Mia!,” one of several compositions written in the 1970s that will be part of the show.
“My summer concert theme will be ‘That ’70s Music,” so when Ron developed the idea that this upcoming concert would feature music from the stage and screen, I thought ‘Mamma Mia!’ fit the criteria,” Rosas said. “Plus, who wouldn’t boogie in their seats, even just a little, to ‘Dancing Queen.'”
There will also be selections from “Oklahoma!,” and then Binder will move things to the 1980s to conduct selections from the musical “Les Misérables.”
“The arrangement I am doing is a medley of the most famous tunes from the musical,” Binder said. “I always love conducting this arrangement because so many people have seen the stage production of ‘Les Mis,’ and many more have seen the Hugh Jackman movie from 2012. Every time we perform this, musicians in the band or audience members comment on how much they enjoy the music.”
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Binder, who teaches at Neuqua Valley High School, also has an affinity for the score because she was able to see the 10th-anniversary production of the show with the original cast in London.
“I was fortunate enough to travel to London with the Neuqua Bands for the New Year’s Day Parade back in 2002,” she said. “Being able to experience that show and cast with students and colleagues is a memory I will never forget.”
The Naperville Municipal Band, which was founded before the start of the Civil War, will celebrate its 163rd birthday this year. Keller, whose great-grandfather led the band in the 1870s, will mark his 56th year as conductor. Binder joined the band at age 15 when Keller was her tuba teacher. Rosas joined the group in 2002 and became an assistant conductor in 2005.
“What prompted me to get involved were my former students from Illinois State University,” Rosas said. “A few were from the Naperville area, and one had a mom who’s still playing with the band. They all told me, ‘you have to get a hold of Ron Keller and join the band, you’ll have a great time.’ So here I am — and they were right!”
Naperville Municipal Band Spring Concert
When: 3 p.m. May 15
Where: Naperville Community Concert Center, Central Park, 104 E. Benton Ave., Naperville
Tickets: free
Information: napervilleband.org
Jeff Banowetz is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.