The Missouri University of Science and Technology Symphonic Band and Wind Symphony will be joined by the 399th Army Band from Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., for a free concert on Feb. 23. Donations will be collected to support the S&T band program.

The concert will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 23, in Leach Theatre of Castleman Hall, 10th and Main streets in Rolla. Dr. Robert Cesario, assistant professor of arts, languages and philosophy, and Warrant Officer 1 Richard Chapman, the 399th Army Band’s conductor, will take turns conducting the bands.

“This concert is a great opportunity for our students to work with the professional musicians of the 399th Army Band,” Cesario says.

The brass and percussion from all three bands will open the performance with “Ceremonial Fanfare” by Johan De Meij followed by two selections each from the Missouri S&T Symphonic Band and the S&T Wind Symphony. The 399th Army Band will return with two works by Missouri composers Claude T. Smith and H. Owen Reed. The Wind Symphony and 399th Army Band will then combine for “Last Stand” by David Avshalomov. All musicians will take the stage for “Variations on a Korean Folk Song” by John Barnes Chance, “Pallas Athena” by Lieutenant Colonel Lois Kaplan, and “The Purple Carnival” by Harry L. Alford.

“We are doing several very special pieces on this concert,” Cesario says. “‘Last Stand,’ by David Avshalomov, is a piece that the S&T bands helped to commission.”

For more information on the concert of Missouri S&T bands, contact Cesario at cesarior@mst.edu, or call the Missouri S&T performing arts office at 573-341-4185.