(SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska - The Ketchikan Community Concert Band's annual Spring Concert will begin as always, with "Alaska's Flag", our state song. The audience is welcome to sing along, and the words are printed in the program.  Following will be "The Awakening" by Brian Balmages, commissioned by Franklin-Fulton County High School in 2003. Next will be three movements from "Ballet Music from Faust" by Charles Gounod. The opera from which this ballet music was taken had its premiere in 1859, at the Grand Opera in Paris, and this transcription for band was completed in 1880.

"Cajun Folk Songs"  by Frank Ticheli, is in two movements. It is a tribute to the musical heritage of the Cajuns, descendants of the Acasians, and the thematic materials come from love songs, songs of great sorrow and country dances.

Kathleen Light, the Executive Director of the Ketchikan Area Arts and Humanities Council, will be the featured oboe soloist on "Sweet Sunset", by Dutch composer  Jan de Haan.

In 1991, hikers in the Alps discovered a mummified corpse in the Similaun Glacier. Unusually warm weather and breezes all the way from the Sahara combined to cause the ice to melt and expose a well-preserved man with his tools, weapons and clothing quite well intact. "Man in the Ice" follows his life through music as he hunts and is hunted, surviving illness and battles, and when he travels further up the Alps than he usually ventures. He dies at the age of forty-seven and is buried by winter rain and snow. He is known as "Otzi".

Next is a composition by Richard Maltby - "Hail to the Fleet", is a concert march composed for the 40th Anniversay celebration of the United States Navy Band.

"Scattered Sunshine" our local trombone choir will perform Henry Mancini's famous song, "Moon River", arranged by James Christensen, for trombone quartet. The trombone choir members are Stan Aegerter, Ralph Beardsworth, Dwayne Clary, Rob Holston, Wayne Houtcooper, Roy McPherson, Tina McPherson, Brian Rhodes and Don Struthers.

Some of the most popular songs to last over the past forty years were introduced by "The Association". KCCB will perform a medley of songs including, "Cherish", "Along Comes Mary", "Windy", and "Never My Love".  

Eric Whitacre's "Lux Aurumque" ("Light and Gold") was originally written for choir and received enthusiastically in that medium. Music educators in Texas commissioned Whitacre to re-score it for winds as well, and it was introduced by the Texas Symphonic All-State Band in 2005. The unique tonal textures and phrasing showcase this young composer's gift.

"Symphonic Dances from West Side Story" was completed by Leonard Bernstein in 1957. It contains most of the beloved songs and dances from the Broadway musical. This major transcription by Paul Lavender follows exactly the original orchestral version and is equally challenging for band. Segments include "Prologue", "Somewhere", "Mambo", "Cha-Cha", "Maria", "Cool", "The Rumble" and "Finale".

Tickets for the concert are available at McPherson Music, the Arts Council, Parnassus Books and at the door.  Adults tickets are $10.00, and youth under 18 are Free.  KCCB is a 501(c)3 charitable organization, and all performers are local musicians.

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Ketchikan, Alaska