American Originals

Independence Day is an opportunity to celebrate all things American.  At 3:00 PM on Wednesday July 4th, the Heart of Texas Concert Band will perform a program in the concert hall in the Luella Bennack Music Center at the University of the Incarnate Word that will celebrate the music of past and living American composers.

San Antonio native Ricardo Gandarilla will perform the first movement of the Tuba Concerto by University of Kansas composer James Barnes.

Guest conductor Brett Richardson will conduct excerpts from Aaron Copland’s Pulitzer Prize winning ballet “Appalachian Spring,” and vocalist Elizabeth Failing will sing two songs by George and Ira Gershwin.

The program will also include music of John Philip Sousa, Henry Fillmore, a tribute to the armed forces, a medley of tunes by Henry Mancini and a tribute to the national cemetery at Arlington, the resting place of America’s fallen heroes. Please plan to join conductors Mark Rogers and Mike Olson for this wonderful program of American music.