The Kalamazoo Concert Band kicks off the Kalamazoo Arts Council's Concerts in the Park series this Sunday at 4 p.m. in Bronson Park, followed by a second performance on Saturday, June 20, at 3 p.m. at the new Three Rivers outdoor amphitheater.
In a conversation with Cara Lieurance, KCB assistant conductor Brian Shetterly says that he designed the concerts to feature highlights from the band's recent winter season alongside a few fresh additions. Among the new pieces is "Pie in the Face" Polka by Henry Mancini, which Shetterly recently discovered. "I heard it a couple months ago when I was guest conducting the Bell Valley band over in the Flint area," he says, "and I thought, boy, that's fun — we're gonna have to do that on the summer concert." The polka, written for the 1960s film The Great Chase, will feature the whole clarinet section.
The program also includes a Broadway medley of Jerome Robbins tunes, George Gershwin's "Someone to Watch Over Me" featuring saxophonist Brian Van Toll, and a medley of French pop tunes titled "Paris Montmartre," featuring accordionist Ron Di Salivio. Patriotic selections round out the concert, including Carmen Dragon's classic arrangement of "America The Beautiful." On Jun 7, Chris Evan Haas will guest conduct his own piece, Teal Fusion, a jazz-rock fusion work commissioned by the Manistee Community Band in 2024.
Shetterly has been with the KCB for 42 years. Now 70 and retired from a 33-year teaching career, he remains deeply active — adjudicating band festivals across the state, playing in a KCB trombone quartet that rehearses every Wednesday, and overseeing the band's youth competition, which recently doubled its scholarship to $2,000. "It's a privilege, it's an honor to be in the position to be able to provide people with that kind of entertainment," he says. "I just love being on the podium."
Looking ahead, the band enters its 65th anniversary season this fall, themed "A Season of Celebration," with concerts featuring Scottish cornet virtuoso Chris Bradley and the Great Lakes Circus. Support from the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation and the Kalamazoo Community Foundation helps keep all performances free to the public. "Without them, we couldn't do hardly any of what we do," Shetterly says.
Audiences are encouraged to bring lawn chairs, blankets, and picnic baskets. For more information, visit the Kalamazoo Concert Band website.
The interview was summarized by Claude AI and edited by the author.
