Music lovers can travel the world through song with Marshall’s symphonic band at their upcoming concert, “The Places You’ll Go,” Thursday, Nov. 21.

“The idea just came to me (that) these are kind of iconic places, so we’ll just call it ‘The Places You’ll Go,’” Jesse Stevens, the symphonic band director, said. “We’re doing four pieces by different composers, and they’re all pieces that deal with locations.” 

The band, a by-audition ensemble featuring both music majors and non-majors, will be performing songs about areas from Pennsylvania to New York to the Middle East. 

“This concert has got a lot of challenging music for the students,” Stevens said. “Most of my students in the ensemble are freshman this year. So, it’s something they’ve probably either played before or it’s something they’ve never played before, and it’s just a chance to really challenge them on a musical level.” 

The concert will take place in the Smith Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m. It will be free and open to the public.

The songs that will be performed at the concert include “Shenandoah” by Frank Ticheli, “Red Rock Mountain” by Rossano Galante, “Metroplex” by Robert Sheldon and “Arabesque” by Samuel R. Hazo.  

The symphonic band organizes two concerts per semester. “The Places You’ll Go” will be the last performance for the fall, but the band has more events planned for the spring.  

One of the spring performances will be a concert primarily for a high school honor band event in February. 

“Anyone is free to come see that concert, but the recital hall will be pretty packed because we’ll have about 500 high school kids on campus,” Stevens said.

Stevens said he would encourage anyone who is a fan of music to see “The Places You’ll Go.”

“If you enjoy any type of music, maybe you did a little bit of band in high school or middle school and you just didn’t want to do it in college, it’s a good opportunity to come here,” Stevens said. “It’s good symphonic band music in that style. It’s not going to be something that you’re going to be familiar with on the radio, but it’s a different experience.” 

Summer Jewell can be contacted at [email protected].