The Hartford City Band presents Echoes of Liberty – Two Hundred and Fifty Years of American Music. The band will hold their spring concert on Sunday, April 26th. This free concert will be held at The Schauer Arts Center, located at 147 N. Rural Street in Hartford, starting at 2:30 pm. The band, under the direction of Terri Kolinski, will perform a variety of music.

To start the concert, the American Legion Hartford Post #19 will do the presentation of the colors. The band will start the music timeline with a selection from 1814 – “The Star-Spangled Banner”. The next selection is from 1831 – “My Country Tis’ of Thee”. Following this, the band performs a medley published in 1961 to commemorate one hundred years after the civil war, “The Blue and The Grey”, which fits in the timeline from 1832-1865. It would not be a concert without hearing a good old-fashioned march, so the band selected “The Washington Post” from 1889.

Moving forward in the timeline, from 1918 is “God Bless America”, by American composer, Irving Berlin. This selection is considered by many Americans to be an unofficial national anthem of the United States. Following this selection, the presentation of the Fred and Joyce Aliota scholarship will be presented to a student who is pursuing a career in music. The scholarship was started in 1981 in remembrance of Fred Aliota, who was the conductor of the band for 25 years.

To close out the first half of the concert, the band will perform a selection from 1924-1930 – “Gershwin!”. George Gershwin was one of the most significant American composers of the 20th century. This selection includes “Embraceable You,” “Somebody Loves Me” and “Someone to Watch Over Me,” just to name a few.  The final selection is from December 7, 1941 – “Remembering Pearl Harbor”. The second half of the concert starts with the timeline 1944 – June 6) – “Hymn to the Fallen”, This song is from “Saving Private Ryan” to commemorate the Normandy Invasion. Continuing the timeline, from 1949, the band performs “Bali Ha’I” from the musical “South Pacific”. The music unfolds a storyline about a fictional volcanic island that represents beauty, peace, and solitude. A refuge any American soldier might dream about in the midst of war.

The presentation of the Doug and Margaret Smith scholarship will follow. This scholarship is presented to a second-year college student.  To complete the remaining timeline from 1955, the band will perform selections from “West Side Story” which includes selections “I Feel Pretty”, “Maria”, “Tonight” and many more. From 1975-1988, the band performs “John Williams in Concert”, which contains a collection of songs from American composer John Williams. This selection captures the most recognizable film scores in cinema history over his 7-decade career. The medley includes, “The Mission Theme”, “The Imperial March,” “Star Wars”, “Olympic Spirit,” theme from “Jaws” and theme from “E.T.”.  Next the band will invite service men and women to stand for their branch of service as they perform “Armed Forces Salute.” 

The American Legion Hartford Post #19 will retire the colors, and the band will perform a “Sousa Surprise” from 1896 to close this salute to 250 years of American music. Plan to attend this free concert on Sunday, April 26th at 2:30 pm at The Schauer Arts Center. The Hartford City Band is a resident tenant of The Schauer Arts Center.