As part of its 2010 national concert tour, “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band will perform at Samford Oct. 9 at 7:30 p.m. in Wright Center Concert Hall.The concert, sponsored by Patty McDonald, is free-of-charge and open to the public. Tickets (limit four per request) may be reserved by request to artstickets@samford.edu, and will be available on a will-call basis.
The Marine Band is America’s oldest continuously active professional musical organization. Founded in 1798, the band has performed for every U.S. President since John Adams. Known as “The President’s Own” since the days of Thomas Jefferson, the Marine Band’s primary mission is to provide music for the President of the United States and the Commandant of the Marine Corps.
In the style of the band’s 17th Director John Philip Sousa, who initiated the concert tour tradition in 1891, Marine Band Director Colonel Michael J. Colburn has chosen a diverse mix of programs, from traditional band repertoire and marches to instrumental solos. Programs are rotated throughout the tour to accommodate different concert venues. As the programs rotate, so will the soloists.
By early November, the Marine Band will have performed a total of 29 concerts in 31 days on its 2010 tour. This year’s tour route takes the band through western Virginia, southern West Virginia, eastern North Carolina, Tennessee, northern Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico.
