The Naperville Municipal Band Fall Concert again will be presented “Sousa style,” in the spirit of bandmaster John Phillip Sousa. The annual concert held just prior to Veterans Day will begin at 3PM Sun., Nov. 6, in Wentz Concert Hall.
As NMB Conductor Ron Keller noted, “When John Philip Sousa planned a concert, it was not necessarily all his music. He always put together an entertaining selection of music and his marches were the encore.”
The fall concert also celebrates the American spirit with tributes to service men and women in the U. S. Armed Forces, past and present.
The concert will feature SMSgt. (Ret.) David S. Golden, Jr., as guest trumpeter. For 23 years, Golden served as the assistant principal cornetist for The United States Air Force Concert Band from Washington D.C.
The 1970 graduate of Freedom High School in Bethlehem, PA, holds a Bachelor of Music Education (1974) and a Master of Trumpet Performance (1975) from Illinois State University.
Golden has performed for U.S. Presidents at home and abroad.
Golden said one of his most memorable experiences was performing “at Red Square in Moscow in 1995 for the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII in Europe.”
During an evening reception, hosted by President Bill Clinton, his brass quintet entertained more than 200 American retired military veterans.
Upon retirement in 1998 he and his family returned to Bethlehem, PA, where he immediately rejoined the Allentown Band. Golden is the founding member of the Hill to Hill Brass Quintet. He’s also performed with The Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, The Trenton Symphony, The Hunterdon Symphony, The Lehigh Philharmonic Orchestra, and The Allentown Symphony Orchestra.
Golden maintains a vibrant trumpet studio, with three current students now holding down principal chairs in their school musical ensembles, Keller said.
“Our fall concert will keep moving with patriotic music and the rousing talents of David Golden,” added Keller.
“We’ll also keep it current, throw a little fun into it, welcome audience participation and tell a story as we celebrate Sousa, a gentleman among gentlemen.”
Wentz Concert Hall is located at 171 E. Chicago Ave., on the campus of North Central College.
