The Karl L. King Municipal Band of Fort Dodge will continue the 2019 summer concert season at 7:30 p.m. today with a concert at the Karl L. King Band Shell in Oleson Park. There is no admission charge, courtesy of the cCity of Fort Dodge. In case of inclement weather, the concert may be canceled. Persons attending these band concerts are reminded to bring along their own lawn chairs or blanket. No seating is provided.

The Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Bell Choir will be selling homemade ice cream and fresh-baked cake before the concert, starting around 6:30 pm.

Conductor of the Karl L. King Municipal Band is Jerrold P. Jimmerson, and the assistant conductor is Dr. David Klee, with Paul Bloomquist as the announcer.

“This concert will commemorate several musical milestones in America’s history,” Jimmerson said, with music from the Revolutionary War time period to today.

The concert features patriotic selections to celebrate the Flag Day observance on June 14. Marches on the evening program include “Emblem of Freedom” by Karl L. King, and “Salute to the Colors” by Bert Anthony and Karl King.

Many selections will provide a slice of pure Americana, with a variety of patriotic and folk songs on the program to salute the American flag. The King Band will perform Joseph Willcox Jenkins’ contemporary “American Overture for Band.” Also on the program is a collection of popular songs titled “Homefront: Musical Memories of World War II,” along with one of our most popular anthems, “America, the Beautiful.”

Special guest conductor will be Dr. Gene Milford. Milford, a native of Canton, Ohio, is a senior lecturer in Music Education at the University of Akron. Milford has also served on the faculty of Kent State University and Hiram College. He holds degrees from Kent State University, including a Master of Arts in Music History, and a PhD in Music Education.

A public school instrumental music educator with 30 years’ experience, his ensembles consistently received superior ratings at adjudicated events and performed at state and national professional conferences. Milford has served as guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator and presented clinic sessions at regional and national conferences. His articles on music education have appeared in Triad, The Instrumentalist, Dialogues in Instrumental Music Education and Contributions to Music Education.

As a composer and arranger Milford has received numerous commissions, grants and awards and has more than 100 published works for band, orchestra, choir and small ensembles. His professional affiliations include the Ohio Music Education Association, where he has served as district president and on numerous committees at both the district and state level; Phi Beta Mu, Phi Kappa Lambda, and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, having received the ASCAP Plus Award each year since 2001. He was the 2006 inductee to the Ohio Band Directors Hall of Fame.

Milford will conduct two selections on the evening program. First will be a recently discovered manuscript of a march titled “The 135th Field Artillery.” It was composed by William Strassner, Karl King’s teacher, and arranged by King. It has never been published, and has been edited by Milford. It was discovered in President William McKinley’s Presidential Library in Canton, where Karl King grew up.

The second selection will be a premiere performance of Dr. Milford’s newest composition, simply titled “Valor!” This was written “in honor of the 75th Anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1944”. It features a stirring tribute to the veterans of that operation which helped pave the way for the end of World War II in Europe. Scott Johnston, from Fort Dodge, will narrate a moving text based on a speech by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Milford has chosen to dedicate his newest work to the members of the Karl L. King Municipal Band and Conductor Jimmerson.

Featured vocalist Roger Netz, from Manson, will perform another of America’s favorites, Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” The band will also perform popular American composer Leroy Anderson’s “The Phantom Regiment.”

The concert will close with the playing of songs from all five branches of military service with the “Armed Forces Salute,” followed by Russell Alexander’s exciting galop, “The Storming of El Caney,” and John Phillip Sousa’s immortal march, “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” along with our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Persons attending this Sunday’s concert are encouraged to bring small American flags to wave at appropriate times during the concert.

“There will be plenty of opportunities to proudly wave the red, white, and blue during this hourlong concert,” Jimmerson said.