Raritan Valley Symphonic Band Returns To Franklin High School

Submitted by the Raritan Valley Symphonic Band.

The Raritan Valley Symphonic Band returns to Franklin to start its 41st season with its Fall concert, “Jubiloso”, at 3 p.m. November 5 at Franklin High School, 500 Elizabeth Avenue.

The band is under the direction of Frank Amato.  Admission is free.

“Jubiloso” is a musical term used to direct musicians to perform in a jubilant or exalted manner.  Throughout the upcoming season, the RVSB will be jubilantly performing works from its initial concert in March 1984.  For this Fall concert, the RVSB will perform a musical journey of the history of the Concert Band through some of its most popular composers.

The concert begins with one of America’s most popular marches: E.E. Bagley’s National Emblem March.  Next is Percy Grainger’s Irish Tune from County Derry using the theme from the traditional old air “O Danny Boy” with colorful sonorities, straightforward accessibility, and a memorable climax.

The band will then perform two concert band standards: Frank Erickson’s Toccata for Band and Robert Pearson’s Minuteman March.  The first half concludes with Eric Osterling’s regal arrangement of March & Procession of Bacchus from the Ballet Sylvia by Leo Delibes, the foremost composer of French ballet music.

The concert’s second half begins jubilantly with Andrew Boysen Jr.’s Kirkpatrick Fanfare, with an Irish flavor that features driving rhythms, exciting brass figures, and a vibrant ending.  In contrast, Eric Whitacre’s Sleep which follows is warm and harmonious emphasizing the simple and plaintive sound of wind instruments.

Steven Bryant composed MetaMarch in 2003 to celebrate the RVSB’s 20^th anniversary.  This parody piece quotes familiar themes from several popular marches (Americans We, Liberty Bell, and National Emblem), as well as Chester, and MetaMarch also includes several humorous surprises.

The concert concludes with John Mackey’s Strange Humors, which features the djembe, an hourglass-shaped drum played with bare hands originating from the west African countries of Mali and Guinea.  As an encore, the band will perform John Phillip Sousa’s traditional Stars & Stripes Forever.

RVSB comprises about 70 musicians from the northern and central New Jersey area.  Band membership includes professional musicians and music educators, as well as amateur musicians ranging in age from high school through retirees.

This concert is funded, in part, by a grant from the Somerset County Cultural and Heritage Commission.  For more information about the band please visit www.rvsb.org.

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