Dexter Community Band Creates Soundtrack for March Concert

The Dexter Community Band will take its audience on a whirlwind tour around Europe at the free annual Winter Concert on March 1.

Highlights will include a flamenco dance from Malaga on Spain’s Costa del Sol, a visit to the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre overlooking Paris with “Montmartre March,” and a spirited ride on a funicular railway in Italy with “Funiculi-Funicula Rhapsody.”

The band celebrates the traditions of English folk music with the “First Suite in E-flat for Military Band” by Gustav Holst, the famous British composer best known for “The Planets.” Holst uses the eight-bar phrase to colorful effects throughout “Chaconne” by sometimes inverting the notes and distributing them to different instruments.  

In a tribute to Irish music, director William W. Gourley has brought back “At Kitty O’Shea’s,” an Irish folk song suite the band played several times as part of its 2016 tour of the Republic of Ireland.

Written by Dutch composer, trombonist and conductor Johan de Meij, the extended, rollicking suite takes its name from a legendary bar at the Hilton Hotel in Chicago that was a famous meeting place for, what else? – band directors.

The musical European getaway begins at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 1, at Dexter High School’s Center for Performing Arts, 2200 North Parker Road.

The Dexter Community Band plays a total of four concerts during its 2025-26 season. The final concert will be May 17, 2026. The theme will celebrate the 250^th birthday of the United States.