Augustana College’s Symphonic Band is celebrating 150 years of musical history. From Friday, Nov. 22, through Sunday, Nov. 24, the college will host its Sesquicentennial Celebration, bringing together over 75 years of alumni.
Augustana’s Assistant Director of Alumni Engagement and Annual Giving and 2020 Symphonic Band Alumni Evan Sammons said the college has been preparing for the anniversary for over five years, with alumni and the current Augustana community highly anticipating the event.
"From the alumni engagement and advancement side of things, we're super excited. We love to bring alumni together for events of all kinds," Sammons said. "So this is a really special event because it not only celebrates 150 years of music making, but the legacy of our alumni and also future alumni who will join the alumni community once they graduate."
The college will host performances open to the public, including an alumni and faculty recital on Friday, Nov. 22 at 8 p.m. in Wallenberg Hall and a celebration concert featuring the Symphonic band and alumni band on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 7:30 p.m. in Centennial Hall.
Sammons says more than 110 alumni will play in the weekend’s alumni band, rehearsing together hours before the performance to showcase two songs in the middle of Saturday's celebration concert.
"One is Holst First Suite in E-flat, which is a really a staple in the wind band repertoire," Sammons said. "Then they'll also perform Irish Tune from County Derry, which is kind of the signature song of the symphonic band, a song that all alumni from most generations will know."
The Augustana Symphonic Band will also be presenting a carefully curated concert, with marches from the 1800s, to "The Color of the Stars", a piece by American composer Kevin Walczyk, written this year specifically for the band. Walczyk will also perform a piece written in 1924 for the college.
"Kevin is on campus this whole week working with the symphonic band, working with Dr. Jacob Bancks and his composition students," Sammons said. "So it's going to be really awesome to see the collaboration between Kevin and the symphonic band and how that comes to fruition."
The weekend will also include scheduled activities for registered alumni, including presentations on the Department of Music and the history of the college's band from 1874 to 1917, campus tours and a panel discussion of alumni in the music industry.
Alumni and community members are invited to an open exhibit on Friday (Nov. 22) from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday (Nov. 23) from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the college's Tredway Library. The exhibit will showcase artifacts and a timeline representing the history of the band.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misspelled Walczyk and Hulse.
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