The Cottonwood Community Band, under director Sy Brandon, will be performing two concerts in March and have invited the Verde Valley Voices chorus to join them on stage to preview their own upcoming concert.
Together, that will make for almost 100 musicians on stage. The first concert will be performed 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 17, at the Sedona United Methodist Church, 110 Indian Cliffs Road. There is good parking and handicap access at the church and the band will be operating a free shuttle service from an overflow lot located at Christ Lutheran Church.
The same program will be presented again at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 24, at the Mingus Union High School Auditorium, 1801 Fir St. in Cottonwood. The concerts have no admission fees, but donations are accepted.
Each concert will open at 2:30 p.m. with a 15-minute prelude by the Verde Valley Voices, a 50- to 60-person chorus under the direction of Joy Simon. Their choral concert will be held at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, 700 N Bill Gray Road, Cottonwood, on Sunday, May 12, and this will give a little preview of what to expect.
They will also join the band on stage for a rousing combined selection for the concert finale. You won’t want to miss this one. “Jubilation” is the band’s theme for their program, which celebrates all things joyful. “Jubilation” is also the title of the opening number composed by Brandon.
Other music includes selections by Aaron Copland, Leroy Anderson, Percy Grainger and George Frideric Handel, plus a couple of surprise numbers. The band’s assistant director and French horn player, Neil Manzenberger, and former conductor Will Norris, now also playing French horn in the band, will both conduct a selection.
Both the band and its audience have continued to grow in recent months, and they are able to tackle more interesting music. The band’s concerts are being held in new larger venues since the audiences have outgrown the limits of the previous venues. They will also do two stage and screen-themed concerts on Sunday, May 5, in Camp Verde’s Philip England Center for the Performing Arts, and again on Sunday, May 19, in Cottonwood, most likely at the MUHS auditorium.
For more information about the band visit CottonwoodCommunityBand.org.
