Motor City Brass Band kicks off 20th season tomorrow with Horns & Howls XV

The Motor City Brass Band will open its 20th annual concert series with Sunday's “Horns & Howls XV—Creepy Classics” at The Ford Community and Performing Arts Center, 15801 Michigan Ave. inDearborn.

 

The Motor City Brass Band will also host a pre-show performance by the Edsel Ford String Ensembles at 2:25 p.m. Sunday in the lobby. An entirely costumed Motor City Brass Band will be performing in the Michael A. Guido Theater a show of “creepy classics” for Halloween such as “Dance Macabre,” “Sorcerer's Apprentice,” “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” and musical selections from Star Wars and Wicked.

 

“It will be a mix of old and new classics for Halloween, both old and more up to date,” said Stewart Hay, the chairman of the Motor City Brass Band Development Committee. The Motor City Brass Band's motto, “It's more than a concert...It's a show!” is embodied in this family-friendly concert, not only featuring fun music, but the audience and band members alike come in Halloween ensembles for a chance to win Best Costume. Prizes will be given in the costume contest.

“All kids in costume get a candy treat, “ Hay said. “Adults compete for the best costume prize, because it's more difficult to get adults to dress up, so we want to reward the adults.

“Though there are some people who will go the whole hog sometimes with their costumes,” Hay said.

 

The Ford Community and Performing Arts Center will be transformed into a spooky setting with themed decorations. Audience members will become active participants not only with the adult-costume contest, but also during a sing-along and children's costume parade.

Subscriptions to the 2015-2016 concert season in the Guido Theater can purchased directly from Motor City Brass Band by calling (248) 559-2095 (Hay said the line will be monitored until noon tomorrow), or by ordering them on-line at mccb.org. Subscriptions are $42 ($36 for senior citizens and $30 for students ages 21 and younger), and each subscription comes with four Bring-a-Friend vouchers.

 

All performances held in the Guido Theater will begin at 3 p.m. Sundays. Besides the opening Oct. 25 Horns & Howls XV, other concerts this season will be:

 

• Sounds of the Season, Dec.13. An afternoon of brass band music will welcome the holiday season, an “energetic and seasonal program” that “would even put Scrooge in the holiday spirit!”

• Motor City Festival of Bands 7, April 10. The festival is back for its seventh year of five performances from five separate bands as well as a 300-musician finale. This year's guest conductor is Col. Thomas H. Palmatier, from Washington D.C. and recently retired.

• Wearing a bejeweled uniform “and well known in music and military circles,” Palmatier consults band development, “conducting workshops and that kind of thing.” The first officer to command both of the Army's top premier bands (The U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own” and The U.S. Army Field Band), Palmatier was also former president of the North American Brass Band Association.

• From the Pen Of..., June 5. The Motor City Brass Band will cap off its 20th season with a program of musical arrangements by Music Director and Conductor Craig Strain, including music the band has performed over the past two decades. However, a finale featuring current and past members of the band originally promoted for this concert has been rescheduled for the following season.

 

For the $19 single tickets ($15 for students 21 and under, and $17 for senior citizens), call the Guido Theater Box Office at (313) 943-2354, or go online at dearborntheater.com (box office is open one hour before any of the above performances, or from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday). To avoid layering on the maintenance costs of the $5 “Theater Restoration” surcharge (or to get group discounts up to 30 percent), the tickets can be purchased directly from the Motor City Brass Band hotline at (248) 788-6618—or they can be purchased by visiting mcbb.org.

 

“More and more come through that channel to purchase tickets on-line,” Hay said.

 

The Motor City Brass Band is currently ranked among the top brass bands in the country, competing in the North American Brass Band Association Championships and the U.S. Open Brass Band Championships. Since the inception of the Motor City Brass Band in 1996, it has been led by the artistic visions of Strain as conductor and music director. To find out more information, go to the MCBB Hotline or visit mcbb.org.

 

The entrance to the theater and cultural arts wing is located on the west side of The Ford

 

Community and Performing Arts Center building, and parking is available between The Center and the police station off Michigan Avenue (additional parking is available on the south side of the building off Greenfield Road).

 

The Ford Community and Performing Arts Center is located on the eastern edge of the city's municipal complex (including the Dearborn Police Headquarters and 19th District Court, the Henry Ford Centennial Library, an athletic field and the Dearborn Administrative Center). It is on the south side of Michigan Avenue (U.S-12), generally across from Ford World Headquarters and just east of Exit 6 off the Southfield Freeway (M-39).