The Lee County Community Band will present April in Paradise, its last concert of the season, at 3 p.m. on April 23 at Cape Coral High School.
Get ready for an afternoon of exuberant, toe tapping, sing-a-long fun. Under the baton of Richard Bradstreet, the band will be in top form as it performs Dixieland, lively marches, patriotic favorites, Broadway hits, and more. Selections include Dixieland…Front and Center!; Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, a march by John Philip Sousa; Highlights from Jersey Boys; In the Miller Mood; Frenesi, featuring vocalist Jan Fenn; Love Is…, featuring vocalist Norman Jones; and Come Fly with Me, featuring vocalist Fred Lamb.
In addition to concluding the Lee County Band’s 137th concert season, the April 23 program will serve as a bittersweet moment for the 60-member ensemble, as it bids farewell to emcee and vocalist Norman Jones, who has served in this role for 43 years; and to long-time firector Richard Bradstreet and his wife, Sara, band librarian.
Music teachers and owners of a music store in Norwalk, Ohio, Richard and Sara moved to SW Florida in 1978, opened Educators’ Music in Cape Coral and began entertaining local audiences as a duo – he on percussion and she on piano and organ. Richard and Sara joined the Lee County Band in 1979; he played trumpet (and other instruments as needed, including trombone, French horn, baritone horn and drums), and she played clarinet. Later, Sara switched to bassoon, her current instrument. Richard accepted the baton as director in 2003 and is retiring after the April 23 concert.
Plan to arrive early and enjoy this final concert of the season. Admission is free; donations are welcomed.
The band will resume rehearsals in October, and its first performance of the 2023-24 season will be in mid-November. Concerts take place at Cape Coral High School at 3 p.m.; the school is at 2300 Santa Barbara Blvd., one block north of Veterans Parkway.
For more information, phone Frances Pace, president, at 239-691-3115; or visit on Facebook at Lee County Community Band or on the web at www.leecountyband.org.
