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CAPE FEAR MEMORIAL BRIDGE CLOSURE: UPDATES, RESOURCES, AND CONTEXT

Communique: Sea Notes & Brunswick Band Perform Traditional And Uncommon Tunes | Sunrise Over America

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Jane Skubic & Larry Reinhart

Two music-making orgs are joining together for a patriotic concert: The Sea Notes Choral Society and Brunswick Concert Band. There are two opportunities to see and hear this free concert, called Sunrise Over America: Saturday, June 24 and Sunday, June 25, 3:00pm at Odell Williamson Auditorium.  Outgoing Sea Notes President Jane Skubic and choir Director Larry Reinhart spoke with us about the show; listen above or see the transcript below. 

Gina: This [“Seize the Day”] one of the interesting pieces the Sea Notes will perform for its patriotic concert this coming weekend. The group has been around for over 40 years. Outgoing President Jane Skubic reminds us what the Sea Notes is…

Jane:  It is a choral society of mixed voices.We have men and women and right now we are about 140 strong. But the most we can get onto our risers are 128. So every now and then, people do have to sit out. So it's always first come first serve when we have sign-ups for the new season.

Gina: So you're not looking for new people right now.

Jane: Sometimes they're on a waiting list.

Gina: Unless they're a tenor.

Jane: Yes, if there are a tenor or bass, you got it.

Gina: Concerts by the Sea Notes are conducted by a rotating group of directors. Larry Reinhart is directing this patriotic concert and the group will be joined by the Brunswick Concert Band.  

Larry: I think this is my fourth concert [directing]. This is my first summer patriotic concert.

Gina: And you get to choose the music.

Larry: Yes. Yeah. I've been working on the music for probably more than a year. Just selecting it, playing through lots of things and the unique thing about this particular concert is we're doing a joint concert with the Brunswick concert band which hasn't been done in a while. So we had to coordinate music with their director. Their director is an outstanding musician, Tom Smiklas. He has trained in Chicago and played principal clarinet with the Wilmington Symphonic Band, and it's been a lot of fun working with him. I've been attending some of their rehearsals and he's been to mine. So we're doing joint rehearsals here in a few days.

It's an array of very familiar patriotic pieces. Of course, when you do an annual patriotic program, it's an expectation that we do a lot of recognizable true patriotic numbers and our concert is intertwined with the band. They're doing a couple of numbers. They do several numbers with the choir and so it features you know a lot of the John Philip Sousa and other things, but we're also doing some other programs that speak to more unity and brotherhood that we're trying to communicate. So some of our songs don't come from the patriotic library, but they all speak to this spirit of patriotism and brotherly love.

Gina: What's your favorite song.

Larry: Possibly sunrise over America, which is the title of our show. But we do a stirring arrangement of America the Beautiful with the band. It is a classic Carmen Dragon. In fact Tom Smiklas, the director was able to study under and was directed by Carmen Dragon in Chicago, which is pretty cool.

Jane: My favorite song is I hear America Singing.

Larry: We open the program with I hear America singing it's also supported by the band accompaniment. It's got a really driving rhythm and an exciting finish to the song. It's a rhythmic toe-tapper that is both uplifting and fun.

Gina: That was director Larry Reinhart and outgoing President Jane Skubic. Sunrise Over America is this weekend, Saturday and Sunday at 3 at Odell Williamson Auditorium. The concert is free.