Two Band Concerts on February 17
Two band concerts will happen in the Valparaiso University Chapel of the Resurrection on Saturday, February 17. Both concerts are free, open to the public, and no ticket is required.
At 2 p.m., the Valparaiso University Luce Concert Band will combine with guest high school students for the VU Small High School Band Festival. The performance will be a sensory-friendly and welcoming concert. VU music therapy students will lead activities with members of the neurodiverse, autistic, and disabled communities in Northwest Indiana.
At 4 p.m., the Valparaiso Community/University Concert Band, Valparaiso University Luce Concert Band, and guest musicians from local community bands will present the annual community band festival.
21st Annual Valparaiso University Small High School Band Festival with Fifth Annual Welcoming and Sensory-Friendly Concert
Saturday, February 17, 2024, 2:00p
Valparaiso University Luce Concert Band with band members from ten local high schools.
Chapel of the Resurrection
Valparaiso University
1600 Chapel Drive
Valparaiso, Indiana 46383
Admission is free for everyone
All seats general admission
No tickets
We are thrilled to have students from ten high schools performing with the Valparaiso University Luce Concert Band in our 21st annual Small High School Band Festival and fifth annual Welcoming and Sensory-Friendly Concert. Our goals are to support local music programs and to provide a cooperative model of music education. It is an honor to collaborate with teachers and students from Edison, Griffith, Hebron, Highland, Kouts, Morgan Township, North White, Washington Township, West Central, and Wheeler. Our guest students have been preparing their music at home, then we will spend the afternoon rehearsing together before the performance.
The Small High School Band Festival musicians will provide the music for the VU Welcoming and Sensory-Friendly Concert, in a collaboration between the VU Music Therapy Program and the Valparaiso University Luce Concert Band. The event is designed to support and serve underprivileged members of the neurodiverse, autistic, and disabled communities in Northwest Indiana, who are typically not able to attend concerts for the general public due to needs such as moving, vocalizing, and utilizing sensory regulation materials while listening to the music. We appreciate your support for these valued members of our community!
The concert will last about 30 minutes.
Valparaiso University Small High School Band Festival and Welcoming and Sensory-Friendly Concert compositions to be performed include:
El Manto Dorado by Jorge Vargas
Peace Like a River arr. Robert W. Smith
Sunchaser by Carol Brittin Chambers
Circuit Breaker by Randall Standridge
High school band teachers with students attending the festival are:
Brian Blocker—Highland
Caitlyn Coller—Kouts
Darren Day—Morgan Township
Virginia Hernandez—Griffith
Leander Hoover—North White
David Lee—Hebron
Dakota Maze—North White
Kyle Miller—Wheeler
Stephen Sholey—West Central
Justin Thompson—Washington Township
Amelia Thurman—Edison
Valparaiso University Luce Concert Band
Luce Concert Band (LCB) is one of three components in VU’s comprehensive concert band program. LCB includes musicians from many different majors, and all the professional colleges. This auditioned symphonic band, focusing on the development of performance skills, complements VU’s other concert bands—Chamber Concert Band and Community/University Concert Band—in offering concert programming with wide audience appeal and performance opportunities for a broad range of VU student musicians. On September 17, 2017, Luce Concert Band and Community/University Concert Band performed for 10,000 people as part of a massed band for the Friendship Lasts Forever gala concert at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. Pritzker Pavilion is considered to be the premier outdoor concert venue in Chicago. Luce Concert Band annually serves the Chapel of the Resurrection by performing for the Reformation Sunday service. In February of each year, Luce Concert Band hosts the Valparaiso University Small High School Band Festival.
The conductor is Jeffrey Scott Doebler, Professor of Music and Director of Music Education and Bands at Valparaiso University.
Leading the music therapy students is Jordy Novak, Director of Music Therapy at Valparaiso University.
29th Annual Community Band Festival
Saturday, February 17, 2024, 4 p.m.
Valparaiso Community/University Concert Band
Valparaiso University Luce Concert Band
Jeffrey Scott Doebler, conductor
Sophia Anasis, Tracy Bermingham, Philip E. Hahn, Jonah Morlock, Joanne Pesavento guest conductors
Chapel of the Resurrection
Valparaiso University
1600 Chapel Drive
Valparaiso, Indiana 46383
Admission is free for everyone
All seats general admission
No tickets
The music will be performed by the combined Valparaiso Community/University Concert Band and the Valparaiso University Luce Concert Band. Joining the ensemble will be representatives from many northwest Indiana bands, including:
Highland Community Band, Hobart Area Community Band, LaPorte City Band, Michigan City Municipal Band, South County Community Winds, South Shore Brass Band, Valparaiso University Chamber Concert Band, and Windiana Concert Band.
The concert will last about 45 minutes.
Repertoire will include the following:
Blue Comet by Jorge Vargas
To Light by Jared Barnes
Victory at Sea by Richard Rodgers
Into the Blue by Cait Nishimura
Nostalgia in the Air by Kelijah Dunton
El Manto Dorado by Jorge Vargas
Peace Like a River arr. Robert W. Smith
Sunchaser by Carol Brittin Chambers
Circuit Breaker by Randall Standridge
Valparaiso Community/University Concert Band
The Valparaiso Community/University Concert Band (CUCB) was founded in 1993 and is open to all interested musicians, regardless of age, without audition. Rehearsals are held all year on Tuesdays (academic year) or Wednesdays (summer), at the Valparaiso University Center for the Arts, room 1518, 7:15-9:15p. For more information, contact Jeff Doebler (219/464-5087, Jeff.Doebler@valpo.edu) or any band member. One of CUCB’s goals is to support local school band programs. In this light, collaborative concerts have been performed with students from many different schools. The band started a tradition of performing a Sousa-style concert each year in Valparaiso, where the Sousa Band performed four times. On six occasions, Sousa “came back to town,” portrayed by Sousa expert, Keith Brion, who served as guest conductor. The CUCB appears each summer for Memorial Day at the Memorial Opera House in Valparaiso, the Salute the Recruits dinner at the Porter County Expo Center, the 49er Drive-In Theater in Valparaiso, Hawthorne Park in Porter, and the Porter County Fair. During the academic year, the CUCB performs for Family Weekend at VU, Julefest, VU Community Band Festival, Sousa Concert, and the Veterans’ Day dinner at the Porter County Expo Center in Valparaiso. On September 17, 2017, Luce Concert Band and Community/University Concert Band performed for 10,000 people as part of a massed band for the Friendship Lasts Forever gala concert at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. Pritzker Pavilion is considered to be the premier outdoor concert venue in Chicago. When most of the band members were unable to meet weekly during the 2020-21 academic year, volunteers from the CUCB combined with volunteers from Windiana Concert Band, on October 10 and May 1, to perform outdoor concerts at Pines Village Retirement Community and the Meridian Woods subdivision.
Valparaiso University Luce Concert Band
Luce Concert Band (LCB) is one of three components in VU’s comprehensive concert band program. LCB includes musicians from many different majors, and all the professional colleges. This auditioned symphonic band, focusing on the development of performance skills, complements VU’s other concert bands—Chamber Concert Band and Community/University Concert Band—in offering concert programming with wide audience appeal and performance opportunities for a broad range of VU student musicians. On September 17, 2017, Luce Concert Band and Community/University Concert Band performed for 10,000 people as part of a massed band for the Friendship Lasts Forever gala concert at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. Pritzker Pavilion is considered to be the premier outdoor concert venue in Chicago. Luce Concert Band annually serves the Chapel of the Resurrection by performing for the Reformation Sunday service. In February of each year, Luce Concert Band hosts the Valparaiso University Small High School Band Festival.