Santa Monica College's Emeritus Band to Perform Spring Concert Next Month

By Lookout Staff

February 21, 2018 -- Santa Monica College’s Emeritus Concert Band will take listeners on an eclectic musical journey from Sousa to Soul at its spring concert March 4.

The concert takes place at 3 p.m. in The Broad Stage at the SMC Performing Arts Center, 1310 11th Street (at Santa Monica Boulevard).

Yosuke Miyoshi will conduct the 60-member band in compositions by Jack Stamp, David Maslanka, Morten Lauridsen, Julie Giroux and John Philip Sousa.

The Venice High School Band, conducted by David W. Lee, will perform alongside the Emeritus Concert Band.

“Expect the unexpected at a Yosuke Miyoshi–directed Emeritus Concert Band performance,” said Emeritus Program Coordinator Vivian Rankin-Scales. “It will take you on a musical journey from Sousa to Soul Music, all on a Sunday afternoon.”

Composed of of “mostly retired” persons -- some in their eighties and nineties -- the band was founded in 1968 is made up of brass, woodwinds and percussion.

Some members have played for four decades with the band which has included a father and son duo, an aerospace engineer, an emergency room physician and retired teachers, well as former members of military bands and former leaders of school bands.

"The variety of musical and life experience that each band member brings to the group fuels an environment of ongoing inspiration," organizers said.

The concert band boasts a musical library of more than 800 arrangements, ranging from John Phillip Sousa marches and Broadway show tunes to rock and roll.

Seating for Sunday's concert is on a first-arrival basis. There is ample free parking on the premises.

The band is part of Santa Monica College’s Emeritus program, established in 1975 to offer free classes and special programs to older adults.

For information, visit www.smc.edu/emeritus or call (310) 434-4306.