A musical tribute to glory

In addition to the musical and oratorical military salute, the community is invited to enjoy a variety show entitled Northern Musical Chautauqua, staged by area musicians and set for 7 p.m. Monday at Backus Auditorium.

The name of this concert is a play on the famous Chautauqua Institution on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in New York, renowned for its assemblage and education of the arts.

Musical and military contributions will be made by local soloists and groups, including the Rainy Lake Community Orchestra, the Community Band, Faith and the Believers II, and the Peter Graham Post 2948 Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Local vocalists Nancy McBride (who will also act as emcee), Romeo Dugay, Dean Piekarski, Mark Gierszewski and Paige Boyum will sing songs in a range of genres.

Variety in the first half of the show will include Mozart pieces played by the orchestra, directed by Scott Roberts; and vocal selections including “Sentimental Journey,” “The Weight” and “If I Had a Million Dollars.” Among the Community Band selections are “Do Re Mi” and “Old Time Rock and Roll.”

An intermission will include refreshments available in the Backus Reception Room. Following that, a performance by Faith and The Believers II will include “Tijuana Taxi” and “Ashokan Farewell,” its strains the haunting reprisal of Ken Burns’ Civil War documentary.

The majority of the second half of the program may serve to hearten patriotism with its tribute to the “red, white and blue” as well as acknowledgments of local veterans and the American military forces.

“Letters From War,” based on WWII correspondence, is on the program to be sung by Paige Boyum while a backdrop of screened images is projected.

“Look up and see me.” The line is one from the moving essay “I Am the Flag of the United States of America” by Howard Schauber. The composition, which expresses the battle-scarred journey of the American flag, will be orated by Ward Merrill, executive director of the Backus Community Center.

Trumpeters Scott Roberts and Alissia Johns will execute the bugle call “Taps,” composed during the Civil War. And while veterans in the audience stand for the branch of the armed forces in which they served, the military hymns of the U.S. Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard will be performed by the entire cast of the show.

In finale, the audience will be asked to recite the “Pledge of Allegiance” to the flag, and join in singing the national anthem. The Color Guard of the local VFW will present the flags.

The event is a fund raiser for the Backus Community Center and admission is $10 for adults, and $5 for students. Tickets are available at City Drug, Backus Community Center and at the door on the evening of the concert.

If you go:

WHAT: “Northern Musical Chautauqua,” a musical event produced by the community for the community

WHEN: 7 p.m. Monday

WHERE: Backus Auditorium

Admission: $10, adults; $5 children; Proceeds to Backus Community Center

Some Notes on the Musical Community of Borderland

Community Band

The original Community Band saw the late Pete Peterson as its last director and was funded by the city of International Falls. It eventually dwindled away. Today, the reconstituted Community Band is comprised of local musicians and is led by John Faith. The band was rejuvenated when music director Faith owed some hours to School District 361. Faith organized a student band (and subsequently added parents) which initially delivered Fourth of July performances. Now self supporting, about 18 members of the band continue to practice weekly and donate their talents to one or two area concerts a month.

Rainy Lake Community Orchestra

This all-volunteer orchestra formally started around 1976 while the District 361 school orchestra program was under threat of dissolution. Support came in the personage of then school board member Art Przybilla who made a deal with school orchestra director John Faith. Przybilla wanted Faith to form a community orchestra and to provide the direction and musical accompaniment for a community production of “Fiddler on the Roof” in exchange for his board reinforcement of the school orchestra program.

The agreement successful, local string musicians have continued to meet weekly with the goal of keeping a string program alive in the Borderland area. RLCO performs community concerts, plays for organizations, churches and other groups, and provides music for the Rainy River Community College graduation and other college events.

Although the school district’s orchestra program was ultimately dropped in 1993, the community orchestra not only survived but has hosted a Summer String Workshop in the area for 31 years. The international workshop brings both master and novice musicians together to foster the longevity of string music in Borderland.

Faith and the Believers II

This seven-member band began when a few friends “got together to make music that was from long, long ago and far away,” according to its originators. The group’s favorite tunes tend to include “brass, reeds and a lot of vocal harmony.” The musical genres of the “Believers” (named after a 1960s band in which current member John Faith participated) include rhythm and blues, old rock and roll, old pop standards, big band, Tijuana brass, old and new country, old-time waltzes and polkas.

The dedicated group with several of its members FHS alumni, creates music with a combination of drums, keys, brass, guitar, bass and vocals. The musicians strive to practice weekly in the lower level of the Backus Community Center called “The Dungeon” — an area that was once the rehearsal core of the middle schools’ musical instrument programs.

All of the musical performers for this event are individuals from the area. Many of the soloists and group performers are Falls High School students, FHS alumni, Tuesday Musicale awardees, and local college students.