The United States Navy Concert Band, the premier wind ensemble of U.S. Navy, will be in Milwaukee Wednesday to perform at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. Milwaukee is one of 23 cities hosting a performance by the United States Navy Band during its 2017 tour.
Founded in 1925, the United States Navy Band performs public concerts, featuring a wide array of marches, patriotic selections, orchestral transcriptions and modern wind ensemble repertoire.
Commanding officer Captain Kenneth Collins says the band plays an important role as musical ambassadors for the U.S. Navy. "We're representing more than 320,000 sailors who were serving the country globally, that's our job" he says.
The concert band consists of musicians from universities and conservatories from around the country. With national auditions for 20-year permanent duty positions, the competition is tough. "It's always difficult to find musicians of this category," Collins says. "You find that musicians that play at this level are really few and far between. It's always quite a search process to find somebody at the quality level that we're looking for."
The 2017 program includes a number of soloists and a Barbara Streisand medley. "What I'm trying to do is program as wide a variety of music as possible so we can appeal to everyone - from an 18-year-old all the way to an 80-year-old," Collins says.
