The Lexington Philharmonic and Lexington Singers' annual patriotic concert will kick off this year with a world premiere: The Star-Spangled Banner.
"It's an arrangement of The Star-Spangled Banner," Philharmonic music director Scott Terrell said. "It's by a friend of mine, David Miller, who has done some arranging for some of the professional service bands."
Terrell said Miller arranged the national anthem for him when he was resident conductor of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina a few years ago, "and I asked him to take another whack at it for us. It's very rich in the orchestration. ... It's really fun."
Because of Miller's work with the military orchestras, Terrell said, the arranger had a good sense of how to set the anthem for Friday's outdoor concert.
Terrell made his debut as music director of the Philharmonic last year at the Independence Day concert and relishes the chance to do it again.
"It's one of the great things to happen in Lexington, the weekend of the Fourth," Terrell said. "I'm excited for the public to hear the orchestra. It's been a year, and they've come a long way, and people are going to take notice of how good the orchestra is playing."
The concert is made up of patriotic favorites such as the Banner; a salute to the armed forces; God Bless America; Stars and Stripes Forever; and The National Emblem March, which Terrell said will contain a lot of familiar tunes. In his first year, Terrell introduced a broad idea of American music, which he says will continue this year, primarily in the form of jazz and film scores.
"I'm a huge fan of John Williams," Terrell said of the composer. "I don't think anything is more American than his film scores."
Terrell said his film choices coincidentally lined up with The Kentucky Theatre's Summer Classics movie series this year, with Williams' Raiders of the Lost Ark theme and Harold Arlen's music for The Wizard of Oz. The program also includes Williams' Olympic Fanfare and Theme.
On the jazzy side, the program will include music from the Broadway hit Ragtime and a tribute to Louis Armstrong with tunes like What a Wonderful World and Hello Dolly.
"It's an even blend of various things," Terrell said of the show. "It is something for everybody."
