REXBURG—The BYU-Idaho department of Music is holding a special performance on Saturday to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
America 250: A Musical Celebration, is a collaborative effort between the university band, concert choir, and jazz show choir.
Adam Ballif is the director of the university band, and has been working with the band all semester in preparation for the performance.
“We’re excited to kind of commemorate the 250th signing of the Declaration of Independence as so many other organizations are doing across the country this month,” Ballif said. “So we're all coming together Saturday evening in the Barrus Concert Hall to do a patriotic event,”
The performance will place an emphasis on historical American figures and events. Eda Ashby is the concert choir director and wrote much of the narration for the show.
“We definitely have a theme in this concert,” Ashby said. “We're highlighting events that surround 1775-1776, and some of the people that are in that period, especially Paul Revere, Thomas Jefferson, and Continental Congress.”
A unique aspect of the America 250 musical celebration is the cooperative efforts between the band and choirs.
“Our ensembles do concerts every semester,” Ballif said. “But to come together, especially the band and chorus, isn't as common. And so we're excited for this opportunity to bring our band students and our choir students together.”
The performance will tell a story, covering various topics with narration in between songs.
“As we start out in the first part of the concert we'll be honoring those of us served in our armed forces and then we'll be moving into our founding fathers and the documents,” Ballif said. “There'll be some music from Hamilton and some words from Thomas Jefferson and then ending with some hymns and hymns of faith particularly kind of as our finale.”
The America 250 Musical Celebration event will be held on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.at the Barrus concert hall in the Snow building at BYU-Idaho. You can purchase tickets online at the BYU-Idaho ticket office website here.