Dexter Community Band Hosts Free Spring Concert May 18

By Todd Nissen

The Dexter Community Band will host its summer-themed concert on May 18 at the Dexter High School’s Center for Performing Arts. The performance will feature “Casey at the Bat” and Principal Trumpet Richard Savitski performing an original version of George Gershwin’s “Summertime.”

For Savitski, a long-time Dexter resident who has been in the band since 2001, the opportunity to play an extended solo on an American classic is a tribute to someone who had a profound impact on his life and that of many other local musicians — Dr. Morris Lawrence, Jr. Savitski was once a member of Lawrence’s award-winning Washtenaw Community College Jazz Orchestra.

“Morris had a policy that everyone in the band needed to play an improvised solo. It was a great way to help you understand and connect with the music on a different level,” he said.

Using that inspiration, Savitski, who also plays in the Depot Town Big Band, plans a few surprises with “Summertime.”

The free concert also marks the return of Stephen West, professor of music and Chair of the Department of Voice & Opera at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, as a performer with the band. West, a bass-baritone who has performed in operas around the world, will narrate Ernest Thayer’s famous 1888 poem “Casey at the Bat.” The poem was put to music by Randol Alan Bass and first performed in 2001.

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

This is the band’s final concert in its 2024-25 season.