'The President's Own' Announces 2010 Concert Tour

WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "The President's Own" United States Marine Band will depart Washington, D.C., Friday, Oct. 1, 2010, for its annual fall concert tour, performing 29 concerts in 31 days throughout Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico. The band will perform its first concert at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 1 at Harrisonburg High School in Harrisonburg, Va., and will conclude its national tour at 3 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 31 at the Popejoy Concert Hall on the campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Concerts are free, but tickets are required. The complete itinerary and ticket information is posted at www.marineband.usmc.mil/NATIONAL_TOUR/index.htm.

Colonel Michael J. Colburn, Director of the Marine Band, has compiled several concert programs to entertain the diverse audiences throughout the Southwest. Tour concerts will include music by John Philip Sousa, Igor Stravinsky, William Schuman, Morton Gould, John Mackey, and Paul Hindemith. Each tour concert ends with a Salute to the Armed Forces of the United States, featuring all of the military service songs.

Concerts will highlight a variety of soloists including Gunnery Sergeant Mark Jenkins performing Vladimir Cosma's Giocoso from Euphonium Concerto, flutist Staff Sergeant Ellen Dooley playing "Bossa merengova" from Sonata Latino by British composer Mike Mower, and baritone vocalist Gunnery Sergeant Kevin Bennear performing a tribute to Mario Lanza including the well-known "Be My Love" and "With a Song in My Heart." The concerts also will feature a Marine Band trombone quartet performing Southwest Showcase, an original work by Marine Band Chief Arranger Master Sergeant Stephen Bulla.

Upcoming tour regions include the Southeast in 2011, Northeast in 2012, and Midwest in 2013. For the states specific to each region, please visit www.marineband.usmc.mil/NATIONAL_TOUR/index.htm.

Anyone interested in pursuing sponsorship of a Marine Band tour concert may contact the Marine Band National Tour Director at (703) 614-1405.

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.

SOURCE The President's Own United States Marine Band