The Concert

THE PERFORMERS

A Capitol Fourth 2009 features performances from some of the country's best known and award-winning musical artists:

• Jimmy Smits
• Barry Manilow
• Aretha Franklin
• Natasha Bedingfield
• Cast of Jersey Boys
• Michael Feinstein
• Andrew von Oeyen
• Muppets from Sesame Street
• Erich Kunzel
• The National Symphony Orchestra
• Choral Arts Society of Washington
• Military District of Washington
• United States Army Presidential Salute Battery
• U.S. Army Herald Trumpets
• U.S. Army Ceremonial Band
• U.S. Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps

Jimmy Smits

Proving that versatility is as important as skill in the acting profession, Jimmy Smits has built a career that allows him to move effortlessly between film, television and stage. The Emmy Award and Golden Globe winning actor continues to effectively navigate towards his goal of making quality television and film. He recently completed his critically-acclaimed role as Assistant District Attorney Miguel Prado in Season 3 of Showtime’s hit series “Dexter.” Smits also recently completed production on two independent films, El Traspatio (Backyard), directed by Carlos Carrera, and Mother and Child, directed by Rodrigo Garcia starring Annette Bening, Samuel L. Jackson and Naomi Watts. Smits recently added producing to his list of accomplishments. His El Sendero Productions co-executive produced the recent CBS series, Cane, in which he also starred. While the show was slowly emerging as a commercial success, it was critically acclaimed for its cutting edge and dramatic reflection of the family dynamic within a modern day Cuban-American family. Smits’ filmography includes Running Scared; The Believers; Old Gringo; My Family/Mi Familia, for which he received an IFP Spirit Award nomination; Star Wars: Episode II– Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III– Revenge of the Sith and The Jane Austen Book Club. Smits began his acting career in the New York theater and returns often. He starred on Broadway in 2004 in Nilo Cruz’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Anna in the Tropics, preceded by the New York Public Theatre’s Shakespeare in the Park presentations of Much Ado About Nothing (2004) and Twelfth Night (2002). Smits has also enjoyed an exemplary television career. Coinciding with his West Wing Presidency, Smits was also seen in HBO’s multiple award-winning television movie Lackawanna Blues. He received six consecutive Emmy nominations for his work on L.A. Law, winning the Emmy in 1990, and also five Emmy nominations for his role on the critically acclaimed, Emmy-winning drama, NYPD Blue. Additionally, he received an ALMA Award and an Imagen Award for Best Actor in The West Wing, has four Golden Globe nominations—winning as an Actor in a Leading Role, Drama Series, in 1995 for his role in NYPD Blue—and four SAG Award nominations. His highly touted departure from NYPD Blue also won the Humanitas Award. Smits has involved himself in various charitable organizations over the years and has consistently been a strong advocate for education.  In 1997, he co-founded the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts (NHFA), along with actors Esai Morales and Sonia Braga and Washington attorney Felix Sanchez, to promote Hispanic talent in the performing arts.
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Barry Manilow

With worldwide sales of more than 75 million records, Barry Manilow’s success is a benchmark in popular music. His concerts and night-club performances sell out instantly. He is ranked as the top Adult Contemporary chart artist of all time, according to R&R (Radio & Records) and Billboard magazines. Rolling Stone crowned him “a giant among entertainers… the showman of our generation.” Manilow calls Las Vegas his home away from home where he performs to sell-out crowds at the Las Vegas Hilton. He opened in 2005 with huge success with Manilow: Music and Passion and last year, not to rest on his laurels, he revamped the show. ULTIMATE MANILOW: The Hits opened in September of 2008 to rave reviews, calling it ‘the perfect mix of Manilow’s hits’ (Vegas.com). Manilow has given the gift of collections in the best-selling series of tributes to popular music. The Greatest Songs Of The Fifties and The Greatest Songs Of The Sixties, both released in 2006, allowed Manilow to become the first artist since 1981 to have two albums in the top two positions in one calendar year on the Billboard chart. The following year, The Greatest Songs Of The Seventies became his 10th Top 10 debut and the only artist to have three Top four debuts on the Billboard 200 chart in two years. The Greatest Songs Of The Eighties release in, 2008, proved once again, he’s got the chops. Manilow has won a unique place in the pantheon of American performers. Barry Manilow’s Brooklyn roots are where music became an integral part of his life. By the age of seven, Barry was taking accordion lessons and playing on a neighbor’s piano. He attended New York College of Music and the Julliard School of Music while working in the mailroom at CBS. He subsequently became musical director at CBS which led to a lucrative sideline on New York’s advertising jingle circuit. In 1971, Barry Manilow met Bette Midler and became her music director, arranger and pianist. Three years later Clive Davis famously brought Barry a recent U.K. hit song entitled “Brandy” (by its writer Scott English). Clive changed the title to “Mandy,” it reached Number One in early 1975, and ignited one of the most incandes­cent solo careers in pop. This multi-talented man wears many hats – musician being the first and foremost of titles, including composer, arranger, producer and finally, performer. Barry Manilow is ranked as the top Adult Contemporary chart artist of all time, according to R&R (Radio & Records), with no less than 25 consecutive Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1975 and 1983. A winner of Grammy, and Tony Awards, Manilow received his fifth Emmy nomination and an Emmy win for the PBS special “Manilow: Music and Passion.” Manilow recently created the Manilow Music Project as part of his Manilow Fund for Health and Hope (www.manilowfund.org). Answering the call of need at a time when arts and music programs in most schools is the first casualty in budget cuts, MMP provided $500,000 worth of musical instruments to 21 local schools in the Coachella Valley. As Manilow says, “Anyone can make a difference. Just call your local schools and ask them what they need. Get ‘em a new set of drums! Music changes a young person’s life.” For more information, please visit: http://www.manilow.com/.
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Aretha Franklin

A global icon, recipient of some of the highest honors accorded any single music artist including the much-coveted Presidential Medal Of Freedom, a Kennedy Center Honor, American National Medal of the Arts Award and an unprecedented 18 Grammy Awards (including Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for eight consecutive years), Aretha is known the world over simply by her first name. Aretha’s artistry has resulted in countless international accolades and awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Grammy Legend Award, five American Music Awards as well as being the first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame (in 1987). The daughter of the renowned Reverend C.L. Franklin, Aretha’s musical skills became evident to those around her from an early age.  A virtual child prodigy with an amazing ‘ear’ for music, Aretha sang at her father’s New Bethel Baptist Church before going out on the gospel circuit with him during her teens. Congregations nationwide knew they were in the presence of an incredible talent: inevitably following in the footsteps of Franklin family friends like the late Sam Cooke, Aretha stepped into the world of pop and R&B in the ‘60s, making her Columbia Records debut at the age of eighteen. A series of artistically strong albums at Columbia but a lack of hit singles with the label prompted a move to Atlantic Records in 1967.  The late Jerry Wexler signed Aretha and with her very first release, “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You),” she began a household name throughout the U.S.  Within her first year with the company, thanks to hits like her now-classic version of Otis Redding’s “Respect,” “Baby I Love You,” her anthem “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “Chain Of Fools” and her timeless “Think,” Aretha Franklin emerged as a global hitmaker, established as ‘The Queen Of Soul,’ setting a trailblazing pathway as the first black contemporary female artist to achieve such unprecedented success. Through musically brilliant albums – Aretha Arrives, Lady Soul, Spirit In The Dark, Young, Gifted & Black and groundbreaking sets like Live At Fillmore West and the double platinum Amazing Grace (the first gospel album to achieve such status) – and constant hit singles (including “Until You Come Back To Me,” “Something He Can Feel” and her own “Daydreaming,” which has become the most covered song in her own catalog of stellar compositions), Aretha constantly broke industry sales records at the same time continuing to build the ever-faithful fan base she enjoys to this date. In 1980, Aretha began a two-decade-plus association with industry veteran Clive Davis and Arista Records: the result was a whole new level of international fame with “Jump To It” (produced by the late Luther Vandross, who – like so many others – claimed Aretha as a primary vocal influence), “Freeway Of Love,” “I Knew You Were For Me” (a1986 duet with George Michael) and “A Rose Is Still A Rose” (produced by Lauryn Hill).  “Jewels In The Crown,” a 2007 final album for Arista, included duets with John Legend, Mary J. Blige and Fantasia as well as Aretha’s showstopping Grammy performance of Puccini’s “Nessun Dorma,” which still elicits a standing ovation whenever Aretha includes it in her live shows. That Aretha is ‘The Queen Of Soul’ is unquestionable and continued recognition has come in 2008 with an NAACP Vanguard Award and her naming as MusiCares Person Of The Year.  The recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the R&B Foundation, an organization she has consistently supported, Aretha received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1979.
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Natasha Bedingfield

The United Kingdom’s biggest female pop star, Natasha Bedingfield has taken the United States by storm with the first British chart-topping hit by a female in almost 20 years. Vanity Fair singled her out as the spearhead of a new “Britpop” invasion, and she now has a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Natasha has sold more than 10 million singles and albums worldwide and has five top 10 U.K. singles. Her 2006 U.S. debut came with the No. 1 single, These Words. Later that year, Unwritten became the most played song on mainstream American radio. Natasha’s success continues with Pocketful of Sunshine which also has become a favorite on radio stations across the country.  Her influence has been recognized, leading to her becoming a face for Gap and enlistment by musical icons Bono and Prince for everything from private parties to humanitarian campaigns. Natasha’s music serves as an extension of herself with her albums displaying transitions in her life as a musical diary of the affairs of the heart. Recorded in Los Angeles, Natasha  co-wrote and co-produced her sophomore album, Pocketful Of Sunshine, which debuted at # 3 spot on Billboard’s Top 200 Album Chart upon release, making it the highest chart debut of Natasha’s career! Working with a stellar team of talent including Mike Elizondo of Eminem/Dre/50 Cent fame, Adam Levine, Greg Kirsten (Beck, Lily Allen) and previous collaborators (Steve Kipner, Andrew Frampton, Wayne Wilkins, Danielle Brisebois and Wayne Rodrigues), and long time Madonna collaborator Pat Leonard, Natasha delivered a phenomenal follow up album to Unwritten – one which has already spawned the platinum single hits Love Like This (featuring Sean Kingston,) and the title track Pocketful Of Sunshine. Her current single, Soulmate is blasting its way up the charts at both radio and video outlets. For more information visit http://www.natashabedingfield.com.
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Cast of Jersey Boys

Jersey Boys is the international smash hit musical that won the 2006 Tony® Award for Best Musical, the 2006 Grammy Award® for Best Musical Show Album and the 2009 Olivier Award for Best New Musical.  Since opening on Broadway in November, 2005, Jersey Boys continues to break box office records on Broadway and across North America and has been seen by over 5 million people across the world and grossed over $463 million worldwide (as of January, 2009).  Jersey Boys is the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons – Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Nick Massi and Tommy DeVito – and how this group of blue-collar boys from the wrong side of the tracks became one of the biggest American and International pop music sensations of all time.  They wrote their own songs, invented their own sounds and sold 175 million records worldwide – all before they were thirty.  Directed by Des McAnuff, Jersey Boys is written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music by Bob Gaudio, lyrics by Bob Crewe and choreography by Sergio Trujillo.  Jersey Boys is now playing in New York, London, Chicago, Las Vegas, Toronto, in cities across the U.S. on a National Tour and will open in Melbourne, Australia this July.  JERSEY BOYS: The Story Of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons (Broadway Books) is the official handbook to the smash Broadway hit.  The Jersey Boys cast album has been certified Gold.  For more information visit www.JerseyBoysInfo.com
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Michael Feinstein

Michael Feinstein, one of the premiere interpreters of American popular song, has been a household name since the success of his 1988 one-man Broadway show, Isn’t It Romantic.  He enjoys an active performance calendar, including major concert halls, symphony orchestras, intimate jazz clubs and college campuses.  More than a mere performer, he is nationally recognized for his commitment to the American popular song, both celebrating its art and preserving its legacy for the next generation.  The Sinatra Project – his new CD from Concord Records which celebrates the musical sensibilities of “Old Blue Eyes” – earned Michael his fifth Grammy Award nomination.  Feinstein is currently preparing the PBS-TV series, Michael Feinstein: Man On A Mission in which he discovers treasures of the Great American Songbook around the world.  Feinstein will also serve as the Artistic director of the Carmel Performing Arts Center, a $160 million performing arts center in Carmel, Indiana which will host an annual international Great American Songbook Festival.  Michael has written the score for two new stage musicals: The Day They Saved Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and The Gold Room.  In 2004, Michael completed a national tour with songwriting icon Jimmy Webb based on their CD, Only One Life – The Songs of Jimmy Webb.  The disc was named one of “10 Best CDs of the Year” by USA Today.  His Manhattan nightclub, Feinstein’s at Loews Regency, has presented the top talents of pop and jazz such as Rosemary Clooney, Steve Tyrell, Barbara Cook, Tony Danza, Glen Campbell, Diahann Carroll, Jackie Mason and Dame Cleo Laine.  Michael also opened the new theater Feinstein’s at the Shaw in London.  Michael started playing piano by ear when he was five.  As a teenager, he played at weddings and parties in Columbus, Ohio.  After graduating from high school, he worked in local piano lounges, moving to Los Angeles when he was 20.  Through the widow of legendary concert pianist-actor Oscar Levant, he was introduced to Ira Gershwin in July 1977.  He became his assistant for six years, granting him access to numerous unpublished Gershwin songs, which he has since performed and recorded.  Through his live performances (from Hollywood Bowl to Carnegie Hall), recordings, film and television appearances, and his songwriting (in collaboration with Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Lindy Robbins and Carole Bayer Sager), Feinstein has been an important musical force for over 20 years.  The Library of Congress recently elected Michael to the exclusive “National Sound Recording Advisory Board.”  He and other industry leaders meet regularly in Washington D.C. for a forum on safeguarding America’s musical heritage. For more information, please visit www.michaelfeinstein.com.
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Andrew von Oeyen

Andrew von Oeyen has established himself as one of the most captivating pianists of his generation.  Since his debut at age 16 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mr. von Oeyen has performed to critical acclaim in recital and orchestral appearances around the world.  Already commanding an extensive and diverse repertoire, Mr. von Oeyen has had notable success in all of his recent orchestral engagements, including Tchaikovsky's Concerto No. 1 with the San Francisco Symphony, Ravinia Festival Orchestra and Cincinnati Symphony, Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 with Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Detroit Symphony, summer and subscription appearances with the Philadelphia Orchestra (Rachmaninoff No. 3; Rach/Pag), Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Atlanta Symphony, Liszt No. 1 with the Rochester Philharmonic and the North Carolina Symphony, Beethoven No. 4 with the Detroit Symphony and Slovak Philharmonic, Bartok No. 2 at the Spoleto Festival USA, Barber with the Utah Symphony, and Mozart concerti at the Bellingham Music Festival. His Spoleto Festival play/conduct concerts of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven concerti and orchestral works of Ravel and Kurt Weill have all received glowing press.  Andrew von Oeyen  has recently appeared in recital at London's Wigmore Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Ravinia Festival, France's Piano en Valois Festival, New York's Alice Tully Hall, Boston's Jordan Hall, Los Angeles' Zipper Concert Hall, and in all the major concert halls of Japan.  Of his Kennedy Center recital, Tim Page of the Washington Post wrote, “The Hayes Piano Series concluded triumphantly Saturday afternoon with a smart, varied and altogether engrossing recital by Andrew von Oeyen...In fact, I would go so far as to say that von Oeyen played the finest all-around performance of Franz Liszt’s Sonata in B Minor that I have heard in many years."  During the 2009-2010 season, he will tour Japan twice, performing the Beethoven Emperor Concerto with the Berliner Symphoniker Orchestra, and later that season performing all over Japan in recital.  He will also appear that season in recital with violinist Sarah Chang throughout Europe, the United States and Asia.  Mr. von Oeyen began his piano studies at age 5 and made his solo orchestral debut at age 10.  An alumnus of Columbia University and graduate of The Juilliard School, where his principal teachers were Herbert Stessin and Jerome Lowenthal, he has also worked with Alfred Brendel and Leon Fleisher.  He lives in New York and Paris. For more information, visit: http://www.vonoeyen.com.
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Muppets from Sesame Street

Hold on to your feathers – Sesame Street is nearly 40! Since 1969, children and adults alike have flocked to the place where multiethnic, multigenerational, and even multispecies residents coexist in harmony. The people on this very special street learn life’s lessons together, provide viewers with strong role models, and teach children that everyone brings a special ability to the community. Here, children learn to use their imaginations, build social skills, and respect people’s differences.

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Erich Kunzel

Erich Kunzel's distinguished career is personified by his 2006 National Medal of Arts, presented by President and Mrs. Bush in a ceremony at the White House. The National Medal of Arts, the highest honor given to artists by the United States Government, is awarded to those who have made outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support, and availability of the arts in the United States. Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as "The Prince of Pops", Maestro Kunzel celebrated the 50th Anniversary of his professional conducting debut in the 2007-2008 Season. His international conducting appearances and the sales of over 10 million recordings have brought him fame over the far reaches of the world. Since 1977, Maestro has recorded over 85 albums on the Telarc label with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. More than 55 of these albums have appeared on the top ten Billboard Charts. In fact, he was named Billboard Magazine's Classical Crossover Artist of the Year for an unprecedented four consecutive years. Several Grammy Awards, the distinguished Grand Prix Du Disque, and the Sony Tiffany Walkman Award for "visionary recording activities" highlight his fantastic recording career. In September 2008 he was inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame. His remarkable career with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra began in 1965. National tours have included many concerts in Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, the Grand Ol' Opry in Nashville and at the Blossom Music Festival. The numerous international tours included a celebrated tour to China in 2005 (the first appearance of a pops orchestra in that country), highlighted by concerts in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. In August 2008, Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops made an historic return to China to participate in the Opening Festivities of the Summer Olympics. Maestro Kunzel actually conducted the first ever pops concert in China in 1998 in Beijing with the China National Symphony Orchestra. On several occasions he has conducted the World Super Orchestra in concerts at the Tokyo International Music Festival. This year he led the Vienna Volksopera Symphony Orchestra in a Gala New Year's Eve Tour in 8 concerts in Japan. A student and Personal Assistant to the great French Maestro, Pierre Monteux, Erich Kunzel made his professional conducting debut with the Santa Fe Opera in 1957 (immediately after his graduation from Dartmouth College). In addition to his many appearances with that company, he has conducted many performances with the San Francisco Opera Company, the Canadian Opera Company, the Cincinnati Opera, and the Vienna Volksopera. He continues a very active guest conducting career in concerts in North America and internationally in Europe and Asia. For more information, visit: www.erichkunzel.com.
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The National Symphony Orchestra

The National Symphony Orchestra of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, led by Principal Conductor Iván Fisher, is recognized not only nationally but internationally as one of the world's finest ensembles. The Orchestra, in its 78th season (2008-09), maintains a busy concert schedule in this country and abroad, performing approximately 175 concerts each season, including a classical subscription series, pops concerts, a summer series at Wolf Trap, and one of the nation’s most varied and extensive educational programs. The National Symphony is particularly distinguished for its commitment to the music and musicians of this country, exemplified through several innovative projects, among them the American Residency program, which has so far taken the National Symphony to 19 states performing concerts and providing educational services, with all proceeds benefiting artistic organizations in the local states. Through the John and June Hechinger Commissioning Fund, the Orchestra has commissioned more than 60 works by American composers; two have earned Pulitzer Prizes, and the series also includes cycles of fanfares and encores, which, taken as a whole, are representative of the diverse influences in American composition today. The Orchestra provides free public concerts on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, as well as at other venues around the Washington, DC area. For more information on the National Symphony’s programs, please visit www.nationalsymphony.org.
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Choral Arts Society of Washington

Now celebrating its 44th season, The Choral Arts Society of Washington, under the leadership of its founder and artistic director, Norman Scribner, is one of the major symphonic choruses in the United States. Consisting of more than 190 professional-caliber volunteer singers who have performed under the world’s leading conductors and symphony orchestras, recorded a number of acclaimed CDs and toured nationally and internationally. The chorus is regularly called upon to help inaugurate presidents, honor world leaders, celebrate national holidays and participate in televised performances. For more information, please visit www.choralarts.org.
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Military District of Washington

The Military District of Washington works with Capital Concerts in coordinating the Department of Defense participation of the Premier Service Bands and Service Honor Guards.

 

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United States Army Presidential Salute Battery

The 3rd U.S. Infantry Salute Guns Platoon is responsible for rendering honors to visiting foreign dignitaries and heads of state at the White House, the Pentagon and elsewhere in the Washington D.C., area. The platoon also fires the final salutes during many funerals at Arlington National Cemetery. The guns platoon is the only unit of its kind in the Army, and its busy schedule includes more than 300 ceremonies each year. For more information, please visit: http://www.army.mil/.
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U.S. Army Herald Trumpets

Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the United States Army Herald Trumpets is the official fanfare ensemble for the President of the United States.  Founded in 1959, and patterned after traditional British “fanfare” trumpet ensembles, The U.S. Army Herald Trumpets was formed to add splendor to official military ceremonies. A performing element of The United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own” in Washington, D.C., the ensemble has performed for countless events of national and international significance. Notable events include 12 presidential inaugurals, the “G8” Economic Summits in 1984, 1990, and 2004, the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations and, the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI at the White House in April of 2008. In addition to its official duties, The Herald Trumpets has performed in the opening ceremonies for the 1980 and 2002 Winter Olympic Games, the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, and the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games. The ensemble has also performed at nationally and internationally televised events such as Super Bowl XXXIX, The Kennedy Center Honors, and the relighting of the Statue of Liberty. The U.S. Army Herald Trumpets has been featured with orchestras from around the world including the National Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops and the Cincinnati Pops. For more information, please visit www.usarmyband.com/.
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U.S. Army Ceremonial Band

In June of 1943, The United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own” was ordered overseas to perform for American fighting Soldiers and Allies in Europe. During that two-year overseas tour, a representative element known as the “auxiliary band” was established to fulfill the diplomatic and military ceremonial needs in the nation’s capital. Eventually that group was renamed The U.S. Army Ceremonial Band. Since its original organization, The U.S. Army Ceremonial Band has grown to meet a wide range of commitments. While the Ceremonial Band’s primary mission is to support over 2,000 military funerals each year in Arlington National Cemetery, the band performs other missions of national and international importance. These missions include wreath laying ceremonies by heads of state and other foreign dignitaries at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, monthly retirement parades, special reviews, and arrival and departure honors for foreign dignitaries at the White House and Pentagon. Recent major events include 2005 Presidential Inaugural festivities, the State Funerals of Presidents Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford, and ceremonies honoring Her Majesty The Queen of England Elizabeth II during her visit to the United States in May 2007. The 70 musicians of The U.S. Army Ceremonial Band come from some of the most prestigious music conservatories and universities in the country. Beyond their ceremonial roles, members of The U.S. Army Ceremonial Band routinely display their versatility and superb musicianship while performing with other elements of The U.S. Army Band, in chamber group performances, on recital programs, and as soloists for summer concerts. Commitments performed by The U.S. Army Ceremonial Band are an integral and indispensable part of the overall mission of “Pershing’s Own” and are some the most visible missions performed by The United States Army Band.

For more information, visit http://www.usarmyband.com

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U.S. Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps

The Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps is the only unit of its kind in the armed forces, and is part of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard). The Fife and Drum Corps is stationed at Fort Myer, VA. The musicians of this unit recall the days of the American Revolution as they perform in uniforms patterned after those worn by the musicians of General George Washington’s Continental Army. Military musicians of the period wore the reverse colors of the regiments to which they were assigned to assist their commanders in locating them through the smoke and confusion of battle. The uniforms worn by the members of the Corps are dated circa 1781, and consist of black tricorn hats, white wigs, waistcoats, colonial coveralls, and red regimental coats. The 69-member Corps uses 10-hole fifes, handmade rope-tensioned drums and single-valve bugles, which bring to life the exciting sounds of the continental army. While travelling, the marching strength of the unit is normally 22 musicians, and the drum major and support personnel. As an official representative of the U.S. Army, the Corps averages approximately 500 performances annually. The Corps entertains millions of people annually in major parades, pageants and historical celebrations throughout the United States; and has served America as a goodwill ambassador as far away as Europe, Australia and Canada. In support of the president, the Corps performs at all armed-forces arrival ceremonies for visiting dignitaries and heads of state at the White House, and has participated in every Presidential Inaugural Parade since President John F. Kennedy’s in 1961. For more information, visit: http://www.army.mil/.
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