Summer Band Concert 2026
Wednesday, June 24, 2026
7:00 p.m.
Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel
Contact Information
Department of Music
music@elmhurst.edu
The Elmhurst University Summer Band will be presenting two concerts in Hammerschmidt Chapel on the Elmhurst University campus on June 10 and June 24, both at 7:00 pm. In honor of America 250 both concerts will be a celebration of Americana featuring patriotic music, music by American composers, and American favorites from Broadway to Hollywood.
On June 24, it won’t be the Sousa Band, but it will look and sound like the Sousa Band. The Elmhurst University Summer Band will present a costumed reenactment of a turn-of-the-twentieth-century park, The concert will feature the fast-paced concert presentation in the same style that John Philip Sousa used to entertain large audiences, and which made him a household name throughout the United States.
The concert that will feature overtures such as Franz von Suppe’s “Light Cavalry.” Elmhurst University’s Professor of Trumpet Dr. Chris O’Hara will be featured as Sousa’s famed cornet virtuoso Herbert L. Clarke. Elmhurst Professor of Voice Margaret Fox will be the featured soprano soloist as Marjorie Moody, “The Lady in White.” The concert also will feature novelty selections and additional music by the great composers, fulfilling Sousa’s dual function of entertaining the audience and bringing the best music available to the public. An audience sing-along of old-time 1890’s favorites will bring back lots of childhood memories and Tchaikovsky’s “Marche Slav” will be the grand finale. Of course, there will be marches performed which will stir the patriotic blood and which Sousa said, “will make a man with a wooden leg want to get up and march.”
In our fast-paced technological world, we often yearn for a time that was slower and simpler, where song and great music could be heard on a summer evening on every street corner and in every park. You won’t want to miss this evening of special musical entertainment!
Admission is free and parking is available in the West Lot or adjacent to the football stadium.