Northport Community Band to Hold Free Concert Series This Summer

Images via Northport Community Band

The Northport Community Band will celebrate its 58th consecutive season of offering free concerts on Thursday nights this summer.

The band holds the performances at Robert W. Krueger Bandstand in Northport Village Park.

Don’t forget to bring blankets and lawn chairs to enjoy the show in front of the bandstand, or even watch the show from a boat in Northport Harbor.

This year’s concert theme is “Summer Sounds,” which will feature a blend of marches, overtures, classics and popular favorites.

Weekly features will include guest conductors, vocal and instrumental soloists, as well as the Northport Chorale and pre-concert performances by the Northport Community Jazz Orchestra. A concert highlight includes Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture,” complete with dueling cannons.

Check out the schedule:

2016 – 58th Summer Concert Season – “Summer Sounds”

All concerts begin at 8:30 p.m. (rain site: Northport High School on Laurel Hill Road)

June 30: “America the Musical”

• Featuring our annual Armed Forces Salute in collaboration with American Legion Post #694, patriotic favorites, and light classics.

July 7: “Under the Big Top”

• Pre-Concert performance (7:45) by the Northport Community Jazz Orchestra
• Circus favorites including Entry of the Gladiators, Barnum and Bailey's Favorite and The Midnight Fire Alarm
• Guest Conductor – David Schecher, Conductor Emeritus of the Atlantic Wind Symphony
• Alto saxophone soloist Tim Gladding plays “Harlem Nocturne”

July 14: “Postcards From …”

• Pre-Concert performance (7:45) by Mr. Jack Daniel's Original Silver Cornet Band
• Selections from France in honor of Bastille Day and other international favorites, including Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition”
• Guest Conductor – Lynn Cromeyn, Director of the Northport High School Tiger Marching Band and Symphonic Winds
• Featured Performer – local theater star Diana Rose Becker

July 21: “An Un-Conventional Concert”

• Pre-Concert performance (7:45) by the Northport Chorale, Joseph Smaldino, Director
• Guest Conductor – Tom Gellert of the Huntington Community Band
• Featured Performers – Mother-daughter soloists Marie Michalopoulos (Mezzo-Soprano) & Ariana Warren (Soprano) singing selections by Bernstein, Bizet and Delibes
• Celebrating the Democratic and Republican Conventions with historic political marches and more

July 28: “Sunset Serenade”

• Pre-Concert performance (7:45) by the Northport Community Jazz Orchestra
• Guest Conductor – Dr. Izzet Mergen, Director of Fine and Performing Arts, Northport Schools
• Guest Conductor – Andy Isca of the Association of Concert Bands
• “The Stars and Stripes Forever” conducted by raffle winner (see below)
• Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" complete with two cannons and guest musicians from local high schools

The band is partnering with Long Island Cares for the fourth year in a row to support local food pantries. Those who attend the concerts can bring nonperishable food items with them to assist Long Island families. Anyone who joins the cause will get a ticket for each item donated and will be in the drawing for a weekly raffle item. Grand Prize is the opportunity to conduct the band in a rousing rendition of “The Stars & Stripes Forever” at the final concert.

For more information, call 631-261-6972 or visit the Northport Community Band website. Each week’s program is posted on the website and is available to download a few days before the concert. To get on the automatic notification list, concertgoers should text @e82cbb to 81010 for rain site updates.

Images via Northport Community Band