As the Parish of St. Anthony’s Church turned 101 years
old this year, they once again celebrated the Feast of their Patron Saint by
inviting the Red Band to play a concert under a large tent on the church
grounds.
The crowd was at its largest when we arrived to setup for
our 8pm concert. We added a few new Italian favorites to our repertoire this
year – Viene Sul Mar, Non Dimenticar, an Italian march Trento de Triesti, and
played highlights from an opera that’s an Italian favorite – Nabucodonosor.
The band was strong – 39 musicians. For this concert more
musicians make for a fuller and more robust sound and the audience showed their
appreciation.
Each year at our first church concert - we begin with a
tribute to those members who have died during the past year. This year we
honored Henry “Red” Brunet, a former percussionist and Carm Graziano, our
French Horn player, who passed away in April while he was still in Florida. We
played a special Marcia Funebre entitled “Una Lagrima ed un Fiore – A Tear and Flower”
as our 1st selection.
St. Anthony’s Parish also suffered a very recent loss
with pne of their parishioners, “Aunt Jennie” Mucitelli, on June 3rd.
Her part in the St. Anthony Feast was just as vital as the music of the Red
Band.
Jennie was “instrumental” in the preparation and
production of the Pizza Fritta! Without Jennie at the helm there seemed to be a
bit of a snafu this year – they had a problem getting the dough to rise – but
the problem seemed to be quickly resolved.
The weather was getting cooler and the crowd was all but
gone when we finished the concert at 10pm.
It’s evident that the aging parishioners just can’t take
sitting outside on the colder evenings.
Sad but true!
For more photos please click on
VIVA LA BANDA ROSSA!!!