5/29/2003

Contact: K.E. Schwab  -- 724-738-2199;  e-mail: karl.schwab@sru.edu

NOTE: CONCERT LOCATION CHANGED TO BUTLER INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL !!!

First Concert Part of SRU Alumni Weekend –

MUSICIANS’ CONCERT BAND TO OFFER FOUR SUMMER CONCERTS

          SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. --Patriotic marches and Dixieland selections under the theme “All the World’s a Stage” will open the summer’s four-performance Musicians’ Concert Band schedule at Butler Intermediate School.

          The first summer concert is sponsored in part by SRU and the SRU Alumni Association in conjunction with its annual “Alumni Weekend” festivities. Dee Thompson, clerk typist II in the Office of Alumni Affairs, will be inducted as an honorary member of the band for her years of dedicated service.

          The 100-member band, comprised of hobbyist musicians from throughout western Pennsylvania, is under the direction of Blase S. Scarnati, SRU professor emeritus of music. The opening concert will be held at 7 p.m. June 20 in Butler Intermediate School (originally set for SRU's Miller Auditorium). Admission is $2 at the door.

          Selections will include “America, The Beautiful” with “Iraq, The Last Stand,” a narration prepared by Scarnati and delivered by Thom Cobb, master of ceremonies and a member of the SRU dance faculty. Clifton Williams’ “The Sinfonians” and James Barnes’ “Sterling Brass, Concert March, Op. 42” are planned along with a performance by the Musicians’ Concert Band Dixieland Combo, including Royce Hetrick on trumpet, Grant Thompson, clarinet, Paul Walker, trombone, James Chiprean, Sr., tenor saxophone, Michael Formeck, tuba, and Jack DiIanni, drums.

          In honor of downtown Slippery Rock’s renovation program, Steven Reineke’s “Main Street Celebration” will be included.

           Themes for other summer concerts set for 8 p.m. are: July 10, “Marching Along”; July 24, “Side by Side; and Aug. 7, “Symphonic Blockbusters.”

PN, PgN, WPN, PR