Civil War Union brass band will transport listeners through time

LIVE PERFORMANCE

The patriotic melodies of an authentic Civil War Union brass band will ring through Clubhouse 4 on Monday, May 20, at 7 p.m.

The concert will performed by the Long Beach City College Evening Wind Symphony and the Band of the California Battalion, a fully reenacted Civil War Union brass band complete with period instruments.

The wind symphony is directed by Dr. Gary Thomas Scott, retired dean of the School of Creative Arts and Applied Sciences at Long Beach City College.

The program will feature marches, period music and a few surprises. The Band of the California Battalion will provide an entertaining and informative program of music from the period when “instruments had character and characters had instruments.”

The Band of the California Battalion is celebrating 30 years as an ensemble and has toured all over the country providing living history presentations, concerts, reenactments and special performances at a wide range of festivals and venues.

According to the Library of Congress, an 1862 periodical described the sounds of a brass band as having “revived the drooping spirits of many a weary soldier” and “soothed the pain of many a wounded patriot.”

This typically well-attended concert features something to be enjoyed by all. Admission is free.