Press Release, Vance-Granville Community College

Variety will be the key as the Vance-Granville Community Band, under the direction of Brian D. Miller, performs its annual Spring Concert on Monday, May 7, at 7:30 p.m. in McGregor Hall in Henderson.

Show tunes, marches and some classics are on the program in the McGregor location at 201 Breckenridge Street. The downtown venue has become the local home of the Vance-Granville Community Band, and the band is proud to represent the multi-county area served by Vance-Granville Community College, noted Miller.

Admission is free.

The concert will feature the famous “Entry of the Gladiators March” and Sousa’s “King Cotton March.” Miller has also programmed the rarely-heard “Tar Heel March,” a march written for the University of North Carolina in 1927.

“No concert is ever complete without a Sousa March,” Miller explained, “but in this concert, we are featuring some other great marches as well. Audiences love marches because they are traditional and are the original music written for band.”

Miller is now in his third year as director of the VGCC band. Under his direction, the Vance-Granville Band has grown numerically as well as musically and has a solid reputation in the four-county area for its musicianship, noted Betsy Henderson, VGCC’s department chair for Humanities and Fine Arts.

In addition to the marches, patrons will hear the sentimental waltz song, “Melody of Love,” which Miller describes as “good old-fashioned turn-of-the-century band music.” Band member Bob Salzmann will conduct two of his own transcriptions for band, “God’s Amazing Grace” and “Ashokan Farewell.” Associate director Tracie Winstead will conduct a medley of music from “Sing” as well as an arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s famous “1812 Overture.” The Vance-Granville Woodwind Quartet will perform on the concert as well. 

Rounding out the concert will be selections from the hit musical “Annie,” and two solo features accompanied by band: Vocalist Raynah Adams will sing “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” and trombone soloist Tim Evans will perform “On The Road To Mandalay.” The grand finale of the concert will be the rarely-heard “Trieste Overture” by Pietro Diero. Miller comments that “this grand overture is a classic! It has all the features of the old-fashioned band overtures once performed by Sousa and Fillmore.”

Miller taught band at Louisburg High School for 20 years and, during his tenure, the band became well-known in the state for its performance of traditional band music including classical transcriptions and Sousa marches. In addition to his duties at Vance-Granville as band director and music instructor, Miller teaches band and humanities at Crosscreek Charter School in Louisburg, is the organist for Louisburg Baptist Church, plays piano often for evening services at North Henderson Baptist Church, and is the organist for Louisburg College.

“There is such a great variety of music at this concert,” Miller said. “We want a big audience. We indeed are delighted to share these musical offerings with our community and want our friends and patrons in our service area to enjoy the work of the fine musicians in the Vance-Granville Community Band.”