2026 Summer Concerts
For five consecutive Tuesday evenings beginning July 7th, our 30-piece professional ensemble will bring you an exciting variety of music which you won't want to miss. No matter what style of music you like, there's something for everyone in each of our concerts. We hope you'll join us for them!
On July 7th we'll honor America's 250th birthday by celebrating American composers. This year also marks the 200th birthday of the dean of American composers, Stephen Foster, whom we'll honor with our arrangement "Gems of Stephen Foster," which dates back to 1895! We'll present medleys of the music of Stevie Wonder and Glenn Miller, a medley of music from Bernstein's West Side Story, and Gershwin's "Prelude #2" before concluding with Sousa's "The Stars and Stripes Forever."
Our concert on July 14th will include some European music, "Themes from Offenbach" and "The Skater Waltz" as well as highlights from Wagner's opera "Lohengrin." You'll hear Pop classics "One Less Bell to Answer" and "Those Were the Days," and wonderful medleys of music from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "South Pacific," and the madcap 1964 film "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World."
OnJuly 21st will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the iconic musical "Annie" with a wonderful medley by arranger Philip Lang. We'll be playing "Musetta's Waltz" from Puccini's opera "La boheme", and the finale from Stravinsky's "The Firebird." On the lighter side of things, we'll present Doris Day's hit song "Que Sera, Sera," and a medley of songs from 55 years ago entitled "Musical Fun from '71." Our trumpet section will step into the spotlight for Leroy Anderson's classic, "Bugler's Holiday."
July 28th's concert will begin with "Colonel Bogey," the stirring British march known from the film "The Bridge Over the River Kwai." We'll be performing Bizet's charming "Gypsy Dance" from the opera Carmen and a medley of themes by Mozart entitled "Magic of Mozart." We'll also bring you our energetic medley of music from the Beatles' album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," as well as a medley from Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical "Carousel." And we'll bring you an LCB premiere of Erik Leidzen's arrangement of "It Might As Well Be Spring" from R&H's 1945 film "State Fair."
We'll conclude our Carter Park season on August 4th with a program that will include Dvorak's Largo from the New World Symphony, a medley of songs from the musical "Man of La Mancha," and a fun recreation of an early 20th century classic, "Ramshackle Rag." The great American jazz pioneer and entertainer Louis Armstrong will be remembered with Ted Rickett's arrangement "Satchmo," a medley of Armstrong's greatest hits. Of course, we'll have our annual playing of "Instant Concert" before finishing with Carmen Dragon's soulful arrangement of "America the Beautiful."
Concerts are on Tuesday evenings at the Bisceglia Bandstand in Leominster's historic Carter Park, beginning at 7:30 P.M., with plenty of free parking available. Admission is free, thanks to our sponsors, the Music Performance Trust Fund, the Leominster Cultural Council, and the City of Leominster. Click here for information about the park and mapping. Audience members are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or a blanket as sea ng is limited. In the event of inclement weather, concerts will be held indoors at Leominster City Hall Auditorium, 25 West St. Weather relocations will be posted on www.colonialband.org.
