CSB To Visit Peoria, IL

Here's an open letter sent out by our Bandmaster this afternoon that details our upcoming concert in Peoria, IL:

Friends:

I am pleased to inform you that the Chicago Staff Band of The Salvation Army will be in concert at Grace Presbyterian Church, 8607 N. State Route 91 in Peoria on Saturday, February 25 at 7:00 PM. This 36-member brass and percussion ensemble will perform a variety of repertoire from classical to contemporary Christian music and also sings beautifully as a chorus.

Joining in the evening’s music will be Prairie Wind Ensemble with guest conductor, Dr. Stephen Eggleston. In addition to their featured repertoire, the Chicago Staff Band and Prairie Wind Ensemble will join forces to perform the "American Civil War Fantasy," "Amazing Grace" and "The Stars and Stripes Forever."

Admission is complimentary. For more information, please contact Grace Presbyterian Church (309-693-3641) or The Salvation Army at (309-655-7220.)

I hope you can join us for this evening of inspiring music.

Sincerely,

William Himes
CONDUCTOR
CHICAGO STAFF BAND
of The Salvation Army

Visit To South Bend, IN

The Chicago Staff Band has just returned from a weekend visit to South Bend, IN where we were privileged to participate in the grand opening weekend of the Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center. This is the third Kroc Center the band has been invited to visit.

While the weekend was packed full of activities, the CSB took part in a Saturday evening concert with the Notre Dame Symphonic Winds as well as being on duty for the Sunday morning worship and dedication service. The Saturday night concert was a reunion of sorts because the two ensembles played together at Notre Dame University just two years ago.

For this evening the CSB led off with a solo set. At the intermission, the Symphonic Winds took the stage for their solo items. The two bands then combined to conclude the gala evening.

On Sunday morning the building was packed for worship, dedication of the building and the formal ribbon cutting that marked the opening of the center for members to begin using the facility.

It was a great weekend celebrating this magnificent facility that is expected to make a real difference in the lives of the people of South Bend and St. Joseph County.

For those that are interested, the Saturday evening concert play list follows:

Chicago Staff Band
Kroc Fanfare (Merten)
Virtuosity (Baker/arr. Peberdy, soloist - Beth Cooper)
Fusion (Cordner)
Blessed Assurance (Himes, soloist - Brett Tolcher)
My Simple Prayer (Little/Lovatt-Cooper)
My Unchanging Friend (Bosanko, soloist - Shaun Thomas)
Nimrod (Elgar/arr. Goffin)
Harlequin (Broughton)

Piano Offertory (Meghan Pierson)
Transition Music - Notre Dame's New Orleans Brass Band

Notre Dame Symphonic Winds
Celebration Fanfare (Reineke)
Alleluia! Laudamus Te (Reed)
Irish Blessing (Bliery/arr. Dwyer)
God Bless the USA (arr. Dye, soloist - Ryan Belock)
When The Saints Go Marching In (arr. Merton, featuring members of the New Orleans Brass Band)

Notre Dame Symphonic Winds and Chicago Staff Band
Light Walk (Gott)
Amazing Grace (arr. Himes)
The Stars & Stripes Forever (Sousa)
Choral Benediction (Himes)

Sounds of the Seasons 2011

The annual Sounds of the Seasons concert featuring the Chicago Staff Band and our special guests Boston Brass (http://www.bostonbrass.com) was held in Edman Chapel on the campus of Wheaton College last evening. A near capacity crowd gathered in spite of rainy weather to hear the combined efforts of the two ensembles.

Bandmaster Himes began the program with Bruce Broughton's "Harlequin". Following a welcome and invocation by Executive Officer Lt. Colonel Richard Vander Weele the Chicago Staff Band continued the program with:

• "Psalm of Thanks" (Sharman)
• "Marcia" from Serenade, Op. 11 (Wiren/arr. Froden)

Boston Brass were then welcomed to the stage for a package that concluded with a CSB/Boston Brass collaboration of "Wayside Festival" (DeJonge/trs. Himes). While more information is available on the Boston Brass web site, their members include Jose Sibaja (trumpet), Jeff Conner (trumpet), Chris Castellanos (horn), Lance LaDuke (trombone/euphonium) and Andrew Hitz (tuba).

The CSB Chorus followed the Boston Brass package with:

• "Every Time I Feel The Spirit" (arr. Schrader)
• "My Simple Prayer" (arr. Lovatt-Cooper/trs. Downie)

The CSB finished the first half of the concert with "Sirocco" (Graham).

Admission to the concert was free but an offering was taken to offset expenses. Dr. Rudolf Zuiderveld favored those gathered with an organ offertory "Now Thank We All Our God - March Triomphale" (Karg-Elert).

Following an intermission the CSB returned to the stage presenting"

• "Vienna Philharmonic Fanfare" (Strauss/arr. Himes)
• "Wade In The Water" (Ballantine)

The members of Boston Brass joined the CSB as soloists in the world premier of a William Himes arrangement of solos originally written by Erik Leidzen. Portions of "Wondrous Day", "Tucker", "The Old Rustic Bridge", "Song of the Brother", "Concertino for Trombone", "A Never Failing Friend" and "Songs in the Heart" were combined into an arrangement titled "Leidzen Montage" that featured all five members of Boston Brass as soloists.

Prior to the scripture reading for the evening presented by Commissioner Paul Seiler the band presented "Soli Deo Gloria" (Himes).

Boston Brass returned to the stage for their final package of the evening that included "Frosty the Snowman" and three dances from Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite".

For their final solo item of the evening, the CSB presented "Paean" (Bright) before being joined by members of Boston Brass for a rousing rendition of America's national march, "The Stars And Stripes Forever" (Sousa/arr. Himes).

The evening concluded with the CSB Chorus singing "Silent Night".

The evening was a fitting conclusion to our season of Thanksgiving and a beginning to Advent 2011.

If you missed this concert, you won't want to miss next year's Sounds of the Seasons concert scheduled for Saturday, November 24, 2012. Put it on your calendar now! Hope to see you there.

Quincy, IL - November 12-13, 2011

I've been remiss and not provided details regarding our visit to Quincy, IL that is coming up this weekend. We will indeed be returning to Quincy where the Salvation Army has recently opened a new Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center.

Our schedule for the weekend includes:

Saturday, November 12, 2011 - Concert at 7:00 pm
Sunday, November 13, 2011 - Worship Service at 10:00 am

The Saturday evening concert will feature euphonium soloist, Master Gunnery Sergeant Phillip Franke. Master Gunnery Sergeant Fanke is the principal euphonium in "The President's Own" United States Marine Band and a graduate of Quincy, IL High School. The concert on Saturday evening will require purchase of a ticket.

For ticket information please contact the Salvation Army at 217.231.5626 or visit the Kroc Center located at 405 Vermont Street in Quincy.

Today we embarked on our first weekend out since completing our season in June at our commissioning and ordination services in Indiana. About noon we boarded the bus for a short two and a half hour bus ride to Fond du Lac, WI where Envoys Beverly and Doug Peterson are the corps administrators. The Peterson's have only been in Fond du Lac for seven weeks but they've done a great job building on what was left behind.

We shared the concert with the South Shore Chorale led by Corey Schneider. This was a fine vocal ensemble that really added a nice change of pace to the concert.

In addition, the program was compered by local radio hosts Heather and Nick.

The concert was held in Goodrich Little Theater and it was mostly full. Not bad for a town of less than 50,000 people. In addition to the concert, the Salvation Army announced a goal of raising $150,000 during their Christmas campaign.

It was good to see at least three former members of the Chicago Staff Band in attendance. Major Robert Thomson, Stan Kelley and Bill Luhn were all present. If there were others, I'm sorry I missed you. Drop me a note and I promise to make it right.

The concert for the evening included:

• Psalm of Thanks (Sharman)
• My Unchanging Friend (Bosanko) - Shaun Thomas, soloist
• Ballad (Himes) - Tim Meyer, soloist
• Harlequin (Broughton)

• The Bartered Bride (Smetana) - South Shore Chorale
• In Remembrance (Daley) - South Shore Chorale
• The Road Home (Paulus) - South Shore Chorale
• Animal Crackers (Set 1; Whitacre) - South Shore Chorale

• Make Me a Blessing (Graham)
• Paean (Bright)
• Vienna Philharmonic Fanfare (Strauss/arr. Himes)
• Wade In The Water (Ballantine)
• Soli Deo Gloria (Himes)

• Masquerade (Webber) - South Shore Chorale
• Ave Verum (Mozart) - South Shore Chorale & CSB
• Battle Hymn of the Republic (arr. Wilhousky) - South Shore Chorale & CSB

• Sirocco (Graham)
• Choral Benediction (Himes)

Following the concert we traveled to Cornerstone Worship Center to set up there. We will be participating in their worship service on Sunday morning before heading back home.

All in all, it was a blessed day.

CSB to Visit Fond du Lac, WI

I've just posted the details we've received about our upcoming visit to Fond du Lac, WI. You can see these details directly by clicking on this link: http://bit.ly/nSOCoq Or, you could visit our web page at http://sar.my/csb and click on "schedule". Or, feel free to contact the Salvation Army in Fond du Lac for more details.

Hopefully, we'll see some of you in Fond du Lac!

A New Season

We began our new 2011-12 CSB season in rehearsal on Tuesday, September 6, 2011.

For this season there has been minimal changes in personnel. In the Eb horn section, Colonel Merle Heatwole has left the band. Colonel Heatwole received a change of appointment in the middle of the 2010-11 season when he was appointed as the Chief Secretary of the Central Territory. However, he graciously agreed to finish the season with the band. Replacing him in the horn section is Major John Aren, an officer stationed at the Chicago Northside Adult Rehabilitation Center.

Our bass trombonist, Mike Hanton, has also left the band. Mike along with his wife and children have answered God's call to become Salvation Army officers and have entered the College for Officer Training in Chicago. Jim Olson who had been a member of our baritone section is replacing Mike on bass trombone.

With Jim Olson moving to bass trombone, his position in the baritone section is Captain Jeffrey Carr, an officer stationed at the Metropolitan Divisional Headquarters in Chicago.

Mark Pierson, who has served faithfully in the tuba section for a number of years has had to leave the band due to a change in his work schedule. Mark is being replaced by Scott Thomas, a soldier of the Norridge Citadel Corps.

Finally, Brett Tolcher is now the principal trombonist assisted by Ron Shoults.

You can see from the above that we've only had three bandsmen leave the band after what was a very full 2010-11 season and we're very pleased that is the case. We're looking forward to our continued ministry in the 2011-12 season ahead.

An updated roster and schedule have been posted on our web site located at http://sar.my/csb