USU Alumni Band to Open 2023 Season as Part of Juneteenth Celebration

LOGAN — The USU Alumni Band returns with a free summer concert series in the Daines Concert Hall, with an opening event June 18.

The Alumni Band is comprised of more than 300 Caine College of the Arts alumni who have continued to perform since graduation. Each concert consists of 45-60 musicians, all of whom donate their talents and only have a single rehearsal on the day of the performance to prepare. The personnel changes for each concert depend on musical needs and schedules of the band members.

The band is led by Music Director Nicholas Morrison, dean of the Caine College of the Arts (CCA), along with Associate Director Lane Weaver, director of athletic bands in the CCA, and Thomas P. Rohrer, director of bands in the CCA.

This season’s opening concert will begin at 7 p.m. June 18, in conjunction with USU’s Juneteenth event series. The concert highlights Black composers and soloists in collaboration with the Debra Bonner Unity Gospel Choir in commemoration of the ending of slavery. The performance also features guest vocalist Kaia Fitzgerald and guest conductor Richard Walker.

The Debra Bonner Unity Gospel Choir is a multicultural performing group of different faiths and political affiliations, singing gospel music and touching hearts, minds and souls. Bonner is a transformational vocal coach extraordinaire, holding a master’s of vocal performance from the University of Michigan and trained by two of the top voice teachers of the 21st century: Richard Miller and Seth Riggs.

Richard Walker, associate dean for student development in the CCA, makes his conducting debut with the Alumni Band with “Amazing Grace” and “Big City Lights.”

The Lyric Rep’s Kaia Fitzgerald will sing “Respect” from The Marvelous Wonderettes. Fitzgerald is an actress from St. Paul, Minnesota, pursuing a BFA in Musical Theatre from UW-Stevens Point.

“The band is thrilled to collaborate with our colleagues who organized the Juneteenth event series, and we’re honored they’d let us be a part of the finale,” Morrison said.

This year’s Alumni Band concerts will be on June 18, 25, July 9, 16, and 30 in the Daines Concert Hall in the Chase Fine Arts Center on USU’s campus. Performances begin at 7 p.m. and are free and open to the public. For more information visit cca.usu.edu.