Band Camp Musicians To Perform Gala Concert: Captain Michelle Rakers To Conduct

June 5, 2013 — The Week I Concert Band of the Band Camp for Adult Musicians at Allegheny College will perform a free gala concert on Friday, June 14 at 7 p.m. in the college’s Shafer Auditorium. No reservations or tickets are required.

Conducting the concert band will be Captain Michelle Rakers, assistant director of the United States Marine Band, known as “The President’s Own.” The first woman to serve as an assistant director for the Marine Band and its first female commissioned officer, she is also the first active duty officer to serve as a conductor for the Band Camp for Adult Musicians.

The soloist for the concert will be Lukas Spiros, the camp’s principal euphonium. A graduate of Boston University, he was the principal euphonium player of the United States Marine Band for 26 years.

Spiros has performed with the Blossom Music Festival Band of Cleveland and with many local bands and has been the principal of the euphonium section of the Grand Virginia Military Band for the past 14 years. This is his 10th year as principal musician and instructor for the euphonium section for the Band Camp for Adult Musicians.

Spiros’ solo will be “Seascape” by Alfred Reed.

The remainder of the program will be taken from the 31 works that the Band Camp will play throughout the week, a mix of overtures, transcriptions, original works for band, lighter numbers and marches. Johann Strauss, Gioacchino Rossini, Eric Whitacre, Howard Hanson, Morton Gould and John Philip Sousa will be among the wide variety of composers represented.

For more information on the concert, contact the Office of Conference and Event Services at Allegheny College at 814-332-3101.