Published: May 08, 2008 04:51 pm         

Brazil Concert Band begins sesquicentennial season

Group plans first performance for June 1

BRAZIL — The 150-year-old Brazil Concert Band, under the direction of Matthew S. Huber, will begin its sesquicentennial season of “concerts under the stars” with a rehearsal set for 7 p.m. Tuesday in Northview High School in Brazil.

All other rehearsals will be in Forest Park in Brazil.

The BCB encourages talented high-school musicians to join with recommendation from their school band directors.

The Brazil Concert Band performs at 8 p.m. every Sunday at the band shell in Forest Park.

In case of rain, the band plays at the Forest Park pavilion.

The BCB performs 13 Sunday concerts from June 1 through Aug. 24 with additional concerts at 12:30 p.m. June 21 in Gosport, at 7 p.m. July 1 at DePauw University in Greencastle and at 3 p.m. Nov. 23 in the Scottish Rite Cathedral in Terre Haute.

The BCB will present concerts in Wisconsin Dells, Wis., on July 10 and 11 in the heart of the downtown area at 7 p.m. during its road trip.

Special guest artists and conductors for the sesquicentennial at Forest Park will include John Boyd of Indiana State University and Jim Church, principal at Greencastle High School and a former ISU director.

Other guests of the band include Col. Bryan Shelbourne, retired director of the U.S. Army Band; Edward Ballenger of Jeffersonville; and former BCB conductors Jim Thistle and Ersel Burgess.

Other guest artists and conductors are pending.

The 75-member BCB traces its origins to 1858, making it one of the oldest continuous community bands in America. In 2006, the band was honored with the Sudler Silver Scroll Historic Band Award by the John Philip Sousa Foundation and its chairman Dr. Al G. Wright.

The BCB has made two CDs of music by Indiana’s March King Fred Jewell, which have been sold around the world.

The BCB has performed in Washington, D.C., Disney World, New Orleans and New York City during the past decade. It actually played at the Lincoln-Douglas Debates during its first year of operation.

Boasting a huge musical library assembled through the decades and maintained by Darlene Shepard and Ann Gibson, the BCB offers the public free concerts of the finest marches, overtures, classics, Broadway and popular favorites.

The BCB summer concerts have been sponsored by the Brazil Parks and Recreation Department since the organization of Forest Park after World War I.