'The President's Own' U.S. Marine Band to perform at Virginia Tech
As part of its 2010 national concert tour, “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band will perform Sunday, Oct. 3 at 3 p.m. in Burruss Auditorium on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.
The concert, sponsored by the Virginia Tech Department of Music and Virginia Tech Union Lively Arts series, is free and open to the public. This will be the first time the United States Marine Band has performed at Virginia Tech.
Patrons may reserve tickets (limit four per request) by sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the University Unions and Student Activities Ticket Office, 129 Squires Student Center (0138), Blacksburg, Virginia 24061. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Ticket holders must be seated by 2:40 p.m.; non-ticket holders will be admitted at that time.
In the style of the band’s 17th Director John Philip Sousa, who initiated the concert tour tradition in 1891, Marine Band Director Col. Michael J. Colburn has chosen a diverse mix of programs from traditional band repertoire and marches to instrumental solos.
By early November, the Marine Band will have performed a total of 29 concerts in 31 days on its 2010 tour. This year’s tour route takes the band through western Virginia, southern West Virginia, eastern North Carolina, Tennessee, northern Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico.
More information about the concert is available online.
The Marine Band is America’s oldest continuously active professional musical organization. Founded in 1798, the band has performed for every U.S. President since John Adams. Known as “The President’s Own” since the days of Thomas Jefferson, the Marine Band’s primary mission is to provide music for the President of the United States and Commandant of the Marine Corps.
