The Vero Beach High School Symphonic and Jazz bands present...

...the 20th Annual RED, WHITE AND BLUE CONCERT

  

Made In America

Nearly 150 young musicians strong filled the school stage to overflowing Sunday and filled their auditorium, already stuffed full of enthusiastic patrons, with the powerful and enduring music of such giants of the industry as John Philip Sousa, John Williams and Glen Miller.

The walls reverberated with two hours of timeless, patriotic compositions including a stunningly moving Symphony No. 1--In Memoriam, Dresden, 1945.  From the program:  "The symphony's four short movements are:

Prologue which established the mood of the impending disaster and presents the thematic material upon which the rest of the piece is based. 

Seeds in the Wind which represents the method of seeding the bomb target with jellied gasoline and incendiaries--the movement portrays the fury of the bombing attack.

Ave Maria reflects upon the religious and artistic heritage of Dresden and becomes a prayer for the victims of the attack, and

Fire Storm which recreates the sounds of the attack and serves as resolution to the tension built up in the three previous movements."

The piece was introduced by a WW II veteran who spoke poignantly about the real meaning of Adolph Hitler and Nazism in that bleak period of our world's history.

An attentive audience and the young musicians listened in pure silence as the old veteran displayed a Nazi flag then left it drop ignominiously to the stage floor.

The arrangement rumbled with artistic, musical passion, then after the audience caught its breath the show rolled into a section of tribute to Glenn Miller with his tunes like Moonlight Serenade and A String of Pearls.

Veterans in the audience were invited to stand to rousing renditions as each of their individual service melodies were presented.

The audience was treated to a sing-along segment of pieces like America the Beautiful and Battle Hymn of the Republic followed by a mournful rendition of Taps then an atmospheric closing jolt with Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever as colorful balloons cascaded from the ceiling with a movingly reappearing American Flag.

Wow.