the Mountain King" on contra-bassoon at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point Band's "Red, White and BOO!" concert in New York City, Oct. 30 (Photo by Staff Sgt. Chrissy Rivers, U... VIEW ORIGINAL
School of Music, performs "Le Ronde des Lutins" (Dance of the Goblins) by
Antonio Bazzini at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point Band's "Red, White and BOO!" concert at the United Pa... VIEW ORIGINAL
WEST POINT, N.Y. (November 10, 2015) --The U.S. Military Academy at West Point Band brought Halloween spirit to New York City with a performance titled "Red, White, and BOO!" at the United Palace of Cultural Arts in Washington Heights, Oct. 30.
The West Point Band was thrilled to bring an exciting program filled with props, costumes, multimedia and world-class music to this beautiful and historic venue. To reach the local community, the concert was advertised in Spanish as well as English and additional audience members enjoyed the performance remotely as the concert was streamed live, on Periscope.
The band's commander, Lt. Col. Andrew Esch led the band as it opened with "This is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before Christmas, sung by vocalists Staff Sgt's. Jeremy Gaynor and Emily McAleesejergins who were dressed in Halloween costumes. When the band began rehearsing for this event, it was originally Master Sgt. MaryKay Messenger who was performing female vocals. However, just one week before the concert, Master Sgt. Messenger was called to perform "God Bless America" at the World Series. Staff Sgt. McAleesejergins stepped in and masterfully learned the music in under a week's time and delivered an outstanding performance of "I Put a Spell on You" from Hocus Pocus and Rosemary Clooney's "Punky Punkin."
The band performed Paul Dukas' symphonic classic, "Sorcerer's Apprentice," as well as a new twist on an old classic--a jazzy version of Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" featuring solo contra-bassoon, performed by Staff Sgt. Briana Lehman. The West Point Band's Quintette 7 also performed a set including music from Psycho and Raymond Scott's "New Year's Eve in a Haunted Mansion."
Special guest Otis Murphy, a saxophone professor at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, joined the band to perform "Le Ronde des Lutins" (Dance of the Goblins) by Antonio Bazzini and received a standing ovation after his encore "A Gershwin Fantasy."
The energy continued as the band performed Eric Whitacre's "Godzilla Eats Las Vegas," a bizarre and entertaining instrumental piece with an accompanying visual screenplay that tells the story of the infamous monster as he destroys Sin City. Band members got to yell, scream, sing and make various other sound effects throughout the piece.
The performance concluded with Staff Sgt. Gaynor's chilling rendition of "The Monster Mash," and Michael Jackson's "Thriller," complete with dance break. As an encore the band performed a special Halloween version of "The Stars and Stripes Forever," which included a Theremin solo as well as a piccolo solo performed in jazz style on trumpet by Sgt. 1st Class John Castleman in full zombie costume.
Related Links:
U.S. Military Academy at West Point Band website
U.S. Army Garrison West Point website
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