The Palmetto Concert Band will present its annual fall concert at 4 p.m. Nov. 18 in the Koger Center for the Arts. The concert is free and open to the public.

"Now in its tenth season, the Palmetto Concert Band performs annually on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, for the University of South Carolina Concert Band Clinic, at its Memorial Sunday Concert honoring members and veterans of the U.S. armed forces, and gives a concert in the park each June," said Traci Hair, program coordinator for graduate studies in the School of Music.

Selections for the Nov. 18 concert include English Folk Song Suite by Ralph Vaughan Williams; Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Elliot Del Borgo, Psalm for Band by Vincent Persichetti, and Fandango by Frank Perkins and arranged by Floyd Werle.

The Palmetto Concert Band was organized in January 1999 and incorporated as a private, non-profit organization later that year. The ensemble is made up of professional and semiprofessional musicians from throughout South Carolina, with a few members from North Carolina and Georgia. A large majority of its members are alumni of the Carolina School of Music, and more than half of its members are public school band directors.

"These experienced performers, who receive no compensation for participating, choose to play with the group because they enjoy making music and performing outstanding repertoire composed or transcribed for the wind band," Hair said.

In addition to performing a season of free concerts in the Columbia area, the ensemble has also been featured on the international stage. Based upon a recording of its premiere performance at the Koger Center in February 1999, the Palmetto Concert Band was invited to perform the finale concert at the 1999 Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, an honor bestowed upon only one community wind ensemble each year.

For information, contact Hair at 7-4106 or thair@mozart.sc.edu.

11/07