The final concert of the 2013 summer season by the Karl L. King Municipal Band of Fort Dodge will be held today at the Karl L. King Bandshell in Oleson Park. Admission is free.

There will be an ice cream social, starting around 6:30 pm, provided by the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church before the regular concert starts at 7:30 pm. People should bring their own lawn chairs or a blanket, since there is no seating provided.

The Karl L. King Municipal Band will feature a variety of marches, classical works and popular selections during their hour-long concert. Two selections by Karl King are on the program, including his circus march “Invictus” along with “The Whippet Race Galop. ” Another circus march to be featured is “The Billboard,” by John Klohr

Music by John Williams from the 1978 blockbuster movie, “Superman,” will be featured in a suite of songs. Also on the program will be a tribute to Count Basie, featuring such well-known jazz standards as “All Of Me,” “Corner Pocket,” “Li’l Darlin,'” and “April In Paris.”

Two special groups will highlight this concert. First, a mother-daughter French horn duet will perform the Double Concerto by the Italian composer, Antonio Vivaldi. Kathy Yoakam graduated from South Hamilton High School in Jewell, graduated from Waldorf College and then from Iowa State University in 1985. She’s taught band and/or vocal music at Stratford Elementary, Humboldt High School and will start her 16th year as the fifth- and sixth-grade band director at Humboldt High School.

She also performs with the Jive for Five brass quintet and has been the principal horn player in both the Karl L. King Municipal Band and the Fort Dodge Area Symphony since 1985. She and husband Dennis have has six children, five of whom have played in the King Band at some point.

Her daughter, Sarah Baldus, is a graduate of Humboldt High School and Iowa State University. She previously taught band at Twin River Valley/Gilmore City and is starting her third year of teaching the seven- and eighth-grade bands in Marshalltown. Baldus has been a member of both the Karl L. King Municipal Band and the Fort Dodge Area Symphony since 2001.

There will also be a performance of Leroy Anderson’s “Bugler’s Holiday” by a trumpet trio included on the program, which is always a favorite. Trio members are Tim Miller from Humboldt, David Swaroff from Dayton, and Harlan VandeBerg from Fort Dodge.

This week’s classical selection is the “1812 Overture” by the Russian composer Peter I. Tschaikovsky. Written in 1880 to commemorate Russia’s defense of its motherland against Napoleon’s invading Grande Army in 1812, it has become a popular piece throughout the world. It was conducted by Tchaikovsky in 1891 at the opening of Carnegie Hall in New York City. The overture had first debuted in 1882 in Moscow,and is best known for its climactic volley of cannon fire, ringing chimes and brass fanfare finale.

This final summer concert always closes in the traditional circus way, with the playing of Karl King’s march, “Auld Lang Syne,” followed by “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Conductor of the band is Jerrold P. Jimmerson, with Dr. David Klee serving as the assistant conductor.

The next concert by the Karl L. King Municipal Band will be in February 2014, when a series of three winter concerts will be held during February, March and April at Decker Auditorium on the campus of Iowa Central Community College.