Dexter Community Band Goes Red, White and Blue with a Musical Tribute to America’s 250th

Free concert will feature University of Michigan Professor Stephen West reciting the Gettysburg Address

By Todd Nissen

The Dexter Community Band wraps up its 2025-2026 season on Sunday, May 17, with a star-spangled tribute to the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

The program will feature Stephen West, professor of music and Chair of the Department of Voice & Opera at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, reciting Abraham Lincoln’s immortal Gettysburg Address as part of Randol Bass’s A New Birth of Freedom. West is a bass-baritone who has performed in operas around the world.

Director William W. Gourley has ensured the brass section will get a workout with legendary composer John Williams’ Liberty Fanfare. Williams was commissioned to write the piece to celebrate the Statue of Liberty centennial in 1986.

William Schuman’s Chester Overture for Band, composed in 1956, draws its inspiration from a 1778 book of tunes and anthems by William Billings. Here’s how Schuman describes the piece: “Chester was so popular that it was sung throughout the colonies from Vermont to South Carolina. It became the song of the American Revolution, sung around the campfires of the Continental Army and played by fifers on the march.”

Robert Russell Bennett’s Suite of Old American Dances presents five dance styles spanning three centuries: Cakewalk, Schottische, Western One-step, Wallflower Waltz and Rag.

The band will also be performing the Salute to the Armed Forces, a collection of the official anthems of the six U.S. armed services. Be sure to listen for Semper Supra, the march of the country’s newest military branch, the U.S. Space Force.

The free concert starts at 3 p.m. at Dexter High School’s Center for Performing Arts, 2200 North Parker Road.