Note from the webmaster: We update this web site at least once a week during our summer concert season. Since the program for each Sunday concert is finalized at our rehearsal on Monday evening, we generally post the week's update sometime on Tuesday. Unfortunately, if you are viewing this page on a summer Monday, what follows will undoubtedly be the information for YESTERDAY'S concert.
For those specifically SEEKING web pages from past concerts, our recent concert archives are now available online.
Enhancing the quality of life
in Burlington and Southeast Iowa
since 1927
Links which may be of interest to members of our audience:
This week's conductor will be Derrick Murphy. Derrick is, of course, Burlington High School's band director, and is an extremely active musician in our area. He's our band's first trumpet player and is principal trumpet with the Southeast Iowa Symphony, the Southeast Iowa Band, and the Southeast Iowa Brass Quintet, as well as playing with the Bullis-Rutter Big Band.
This Week's Concert
Sunday, July 27, 2025
(NOTE: If the weather is bad, this concert will be moved
to Edward Stone School -- notice will be posted here,
and on the band's Facebook page.)
The regular Muni Band concert will feature not just one, but two terrific soloists, one a consummate professional, and the other a promising young person just cutting her teeth in the musical world. The first is Dr. David Cyzak, Visiting Professor of Oboe at the University of Iowa. Dr. Cyzak's local claim to fame is his position as Southeast Iowa Symphony's Principal Oboe. His bio appears in our links below. He will perform Variations on a Theme by Glinka, by Nickolai Rimsky-Korsakov, edited by Mark Rogers.
Chat GPT's selections will include: Golden Jubilee March by John Philip Sousa; Aguero Paso-Doble by Jose Franco; Alla Barocco by Cesar Giovannini arranged by Wayne Robinson; Italian Polka by Sergi Rachmaninoff arranged by Erik Leidzen; Spanish Flea by Julius Wechter arranged by Herb Alpert; Trumpet Tango by Tutti Camerata arranged by Ed McLin, and Milk and Honey, a Broadway Musical by Jerry Herman arranged by John Cacavas including Milk and Honey, Shalom, That Was Yesterday, I Will Follow You, and Independence Day Hora. As always, the concert will conclude with our traditional closing march, The Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa.
Derrick's jazz experience is coming in handy for this concert as he is directing not only our regular 7:30 to 8:30 PM concert but the annual "Muni Jazz Band" performance which will begin at 6:15 PM, prior to our regular concert. You won't want to miss this jazz portion of the evening because it'll be jam packed with features! Burlington native and trumpet pro Steve Wright will be on hand to play with the band which will play some of his charts and featured soloists will include Katie Taylor and Jim Priebe.
The Jazz band's selections will include: Limbo Jazz by Duke Ellington arranged by David Berger; A Warm Fuzzy by Paul Clark, featuring Jim Priebe on trombone; Torock by Steve Wright; A Foggy Day by George Gershwin arranged by Lennie Niehaus; Bob-Omb Battlefield by Koji Kondo arranged by Charlie Rosen; Love is Here to Stay by George Gershwin arranged by Sammy Nestico, featuring Katie Taylor on tenor sax; and In the Hall of Monty King by Steve Wright.
Our second soloist will be Janie Owens, a talented young flutist, who has accomplished just about every musical honor possible as a high school student! A spring graduate of City High School in Iowa City, she is a student of Rose Bishop, Principal Flute of the Southeast Iowa Symphony who recommended her to us. Janie will be going to UNI this fall as a music major and, after hearing her during our rehearsal, we are confident that she has a bright future as a flutist! Janie will perform Concertino op. 107 by Cecile Chaminade.
And, it's finally happened! Artificial intelligence has invaded the heretofore serene world of the Burlington Municipal Band! Derrick tells us that, for the Muni Band's portion of the concert, he was trying to pick selections from the band's music library and decided to utilize AI. He gave Chat GPT the music list and asked it to pick selections that made up a varied program and hadn't been played in the last five years. With the exception of the soloist's pieces, the band will play Chat GPT's picks which, it turns out, make up a pretty interesting program. It's a brave new world! Fortunately, AI has not replaced actual human musical performance and, while there is much discussion about AI being used to compose music, we don't believe that our band members are in danger of being replaced anytime soon!
For those specifically SEEKING web pages from past concerts, our recent concert archives are now available online.
