'The President's Own' Announces 2005 Concert Tour

'The President's Own' Announces 2005 Concert Tour

WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- "The President's Own" United States Marine Band will depart Washington, D.C., Monday, Oct. 3, 2005, for its annual fall concert tour, performing 43 concerts in 49 days throughout western Virginia, southern West Virginia, western North Carolina, Tennessee, northern Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico. The tour will conclude on Sunday, Nov. 20 in Harrisonburg, Va. For more information on the band's national concert tour, please visit http://www.marineband.usmc.mil/NATIONAL_TOUR/index.htm.

Director Lieutenant Colonel Michael J. Colburn has tailored concert programs to entertain the diverse audiences across the Southeast and Southwest. Highlights include Donald Grantham's Southern Harmony, based on hymns, folksongs and revival tunes from the 1800s taken from The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, and Donald Freund's "Jug Blues and Fat Pickin'," modeled on the music of the Memphis Jug Band and bluegrass banjo pickin'. The band also will perform Texan Don Gillis' "Shindig," a colorful nod to the music of old western movies. In addition, the program will feature marches by the band's legendary 17th Director, John Philip Sousa, and transcriptions of well-known works by Richard Wagner and J.S. Bach.

Each concert will feature a different soloist, including Texas natives Master Sergeant Cynthia Rugolo and Staff Sergeant Sara Dell'Omo; Fairmont, W.Va., native Master Sergeant Aaron Clay; and Baltimore native Master Sergeant Charles Casey.

Upcoming tour regions include the Southeast in 2006, Northeast in 2007, Midwest in 2008 and West Coast in 2009. For the states specific to each region, please visit http://www.marineband.usmc.mil/NATIONAL_TOUR/index.htm.

Anyone interested in pursuing sponsorship of a Marine Band tour concert may contact the National Tour Director at (703) 614-3502.

The Marine Band is America's oldest professional musical organization. Founded in 1798, the band has performed for every U.S. President since John Adams. Given the title "The President's Own" by 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.

CONTACT: Public Affairs Office, +1-202-433-5809, or usmbpao@mbw.usmc.mil

Source: "The President's Own" United States Marine Band

CONTACT: Public Affairs Office, +1-202-433-5809, or usmbpao@mbw.usmc.mil

Web site: http://www.marineband.usmc.mil/ http://www.marineband.usmc.mil/NATIONAL_TOUR/index.htm

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