Alumni Band to present second concert

Continuing its summer series of concerts, the Utah State University Alumni Band takes the stage again Sunday, June 22, at 7 p.m. in the Kent Concert Hall of the Chase Fine Arts Center (approximately 1110 E. 610 North, Logan).

Alumni Band concerts are free and open to the public. Families are especially encouraged to attend.

Sunday’s performance features USU Music Department faculty member Cindy Dewey as soloist for Dvorak’s “Songs My Mother Taught Me” and Lehar’s “Vilia.”

“Cindy is a very fine singer, a brilliant teacher and a great colleague,” said Alumni Band director Nicholas Morrison, also a faculty member in the Music Department. “The band is also thrilled to present our new department head, Dr. Craig D. Jessop, as a guest conductor on this program.”

Jessop will conduct one selection on Sunday’s program, and will return for several selections in July when the band moves outdoors. Although Jessop’s most recent position prior to taking the helm of the USU music department was as music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, he is no stranger to bands, having previously served as commander and conductor of the United States Air Force Heartland of America Band.

The intermission feature put the Summer Alumni Band Flute Quartet in the spotlight, with flutists Sherry Beecher Bingham, Janet Brighton Davis, Becky Dalby Nelson and Farol Groutage Nelson. For a selection composed by the band’s founding director, Max F. Dalby, USU professor emeritus Betty Beecher joins the quartet on piano.

The band’s summer series moves outdoors for its July 6 concert. Other performances are scheduled for July 20 and August 3.