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AVB Community Band Concert
For immediate release
As composer Irving Berlin says, “There’s No Business Like Show Business” and the AVB Community Band will celebrate that legacy with an evening of Broadway music on Monday, Oct. 21, at the Ashwaubenon Performing Arts Center, 2391 S. Ridge Road in Ashwaubenon.
“A Season of Love” is the theme of the 2024-2025 eight-concert season.
Doors at the Ashwaubenon PAC open at 6 p.m. The family-friendly concert begins at 7 p.m.
The concert is sponsored by Nature’s Best Floral & Boutique, 908 Hansen Road, Ashwaubenon, and Cotter Funeral Home, 860 N. Webster Ave., De Pere.
Admission is at no charge, with donations accepted before and after the concert, as well as during intermission, to help ensure the band can continue its mission of “Music for a Lifetime” for years to come.
The theme for the Oct. 21 concert is "A Broadway Love Affair.”
“We’ve got a great evening of memorable music planned that will feature two incredible local vocalists, Brandon Rockstroh and Amelia Gibbons, both returning favorites of the AVB Community Band,” said AVB director Mike Ajango. “It’s great working with vocalists who you have a history with, both for the band and for our audience.”
For the past 15 years, Rockstroh has been director of choirs at Southwest High School in Green Bay and has also performed professionally in New York City. As a teacher, he was a Golden Apple Award winner in 2016 and a Kohl Fellowship Recipient in 2020, awarded by the Herb Kohl Educational Foundation. His original musical, “The Book of Empty Pages,” has been performed in two critically-acclaimed productions to over 4,000 audience members (see thebookofemptypages.com).
Gibbons is a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point where she is studying musical theater in the fine arts program there as well as child, youth and family studies. She has performed with numerous theatrical and musical companies throughout her life and was a nominee for the National High School Musical Theatre Awards (The Jimmy Awards) in New York City. She also took first place in the International Hal Leonard Vocal Competition and in the National Association of Teachers of Singing competition.
“Get ready to enjoy some real ‘showstoppers’ as we celebrate the love so many of us have for the Broadway musical,” Ajango said.
And that’s where the AVB Community Band will begin, opening the evening with “Irving Berlin Showstoppers.”
The rousing medley includes “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” “Shaking the Blues Away,” “Cheek to Cheek,” “Steppin’ Out With My Baby” and, of course, “There’s No Business Like Show Business.”
Next up, Brandon will sing “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” from the musical “Les Miserables.” In the show, the song is sung by the character Marius as he reflects on the loss of his comrades, lamenting their empty chairs at the table.
“Give My Regards to Broadway” features the music of George Cohan, who was destined to be an all-around entertainer, beginning his show business career at age 9 in his parents’ vaudeville act.
The moving “Somewhere” from “West Side Story,” with music by Leonard Beernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, will be performed by Brandon and Amelia.
The first half closes out with a surprise director conducting “Selections from The Music Man,” including “Seventy-Six Trombones,” “The Wells Fargo Wagon” and “Lida Rose.” Meredith Wilson not only wrote the music and lyrics for the acclaimed Broadway show, he also wrote the script, which eventually became a hit movie musical starring Robert Preston, Shirley Jones and Ron Howard.
The second half of the AVB Community Band concert opens with “Gershwin!” and includes “Fascinating Rhythm,” “Embraceable You,” “Somebody Loves Me,” “Someone to Watch Over Me” and “I Got Rhythm.”
Amelia will then reprise her AVB performance of several years ago of “On My Own” from “Les Miserables,” one of the production’s most famous songs.
The band performs the humorous “Gee, Officer Krupke” from West Side Story, followed up with Brandon and Emilie joining the band during “The Song That Goes Like This” from the musical comedy “Spamalot.”
The evening concludes with the moving “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from the musical “Carousel,” with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II.
For more information on the band, see avbcommunityband.org.
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Other items of note:
Once again, the AVB Community Band will partner with the Ashwaubenon High School choral program at the Ashwaubenon PAC concerts as they fundraise by selling Seroogy’s candy bars in the lobby prior to the concert and during intermission.
The AVB Community Band will also sell tickets during on Oct. 21 for the chicken dinner which will follow the Sunday afternoon, Feb. 16, AVB Big Band Concert at the Riverside Ballroom in Green Bay.
The AVB Community Band also accepts used musical instruments in good condition for use by area schoolchildren. For more information, see avbcommunityband.org.
Event Links
Website: https://go.evvnt.com/2697388-0
