NHS FALL MUSIC CONCERT COMMEMORATING AMERICA’S 250TH ANNIVERSARY

This year’s fall concert features over 120 band students and more than 60 choir members across the NHS Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Lab, and Combined Choirs. The program is themed after the 250th anniversary of the United States and includes iconic American and Americana Wind Band selections such as “Star-Spangled Banner,” “We Shall Overcome,” “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” “Stars and Stripes Forever,” while the Jazz Lab and Ensemble are presenting historic American anthems including ”In the Mood,” and “Strike Up the Band,” and modern works like Wynton Marsalis’s “We the People.” Under the direction of Brian Martin (Bands & Jazz) and Dr. Jonathan VanderWoude (Choirs), the performance highlights the extraordinary talent of Needham’s student musicians and the breadth of the Music Program in Needham Public Schools. Special thanks to the NHS Friends of Music for funding Omar Thomas’s ‘Of Our New Day Begun’—a powerful centerpiece based on ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’.