Packard Band plays a ‘Summer Finale’
Two guest artists will join the W.D. Packard Concert Band for its final outdoor concert of the summer season.
Guest conductor will be Bruce Moss, who retired in 2024 after 30 years as director of band activities at Bowling Green State University. He is in his 46th season as conductor and artistic director of the Wheaton (Illinois) Municipal Band, which was featured in the PBS “American Experience” documentary “If You Knew Sousa.”
Tenor Shawn Mathey will be the featured soloist on Percy Aldridge Grainger’s “Irish Tune from County Derry” and “Because,” arranged by Noah D. Taylor
Mathey has performed with opera companies and at music festivals around the world. With 35 leading roles to his credit, he has appeared with the San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, the Dallas Opera, Rome Opera, Paris Opera, Zürich Opera, the Salzburg Festival, Opera Hong Kong and the Frankfurt Opera.
Other selections for the “Summer Finale” include Noah D. Taylor’s “Fanfare 250,” “The Battle Cry of Freedom” and his arrangement of “Simple Gifts”; John Philip Sousa’s “Noles of Mystic Shrine” and “The Stars and Stripes Forever” marches; Gioachino Rossini’s “Italian in Algiers” overture, Johann Strauss’ “Thunder and Lightning” concert polka; the overture from “Mary Poppins” and a medley of Glenn Miller favorites.
The concert starts at 7 p.m. Sunday at the south lawn bandshell of Packard Music Hall, 1703 Mahoning Ave. NW, Warren. Admission is free, and funding is provided by the W.D. Packard trust.