The ONU Marching Band will be bringing a new show to band enthusiasts Sunday at the Freed Center in Ada.
Submitted Photo | Courtesy of Ohio Northern University
ADA — The Ohio Northern University Marching Band has performed for Band-O-Rama for decades.
But it will perform this year’s event at 4 p.m. Sunday with a new theme.
“The theme of our show this year is called Glitter,” said Band Director Charles Bates. “It will be about things that sparkle and shine and we have a wide variety of music, including ‘Candide,’ ‘Glitter and Be Gay’ by Leonard Bernstein, Katy Perry’s ‘Firework,’ ‘Counting Stars’ and we’ll actually be doing a piece that’s called ‘This Little Light of Mine.’ That’s what the central focus is of our most popular programs. So we’re doing a lot of music that celebrates that. We’re doing Madonna’s ‘Material Girl’ so it’s a lot of exciting music. And then we also do some of our old favorites, things like ‘Phantom of the Opera,’ as well as opening up the concert with a service song medley to salute veterans. We’ll play service songs for all the members of the armed services, so it’s kind of a wide-ranging concert. We do a lot of different things.”
Bates said that because Band-O-Rama has been taking place for over 50 years and the marching band has such a rich history, it will give the performance added significance.
“Since this has been going on so long, when we look at the audience and the parents, a lot of times students or parents will bring their brothers and sisters and then you get grandparents coming in, and now we have we’ve got kids whose parents were in the band,” he said. “You get all of those people coming in one place, especially those second-generation students of parents who see their kids sitting in the seats that they were in as performers. It sets up a tradition of expectations and I’m sure they remember back to when they were in the band and the things that they went through and the things that they enjoyed about the band. And the audience really gets into it. Students do things like a few cheers here and there.”
For anyone unfamiliar with the ONU Marching Band, more information is available on the ONU website under the music department section.
For more information, contact the Free Center for the Performing Arts box office by phone at 419-772-1900.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Ohio Northern University’s Band-O-Rama
WHEN: 4 p.m. Sunday
WHERE: ONU Freed Center, 500 W. College Ave., Ada
For more information, call the box office at 419-772-1900 or email [email protected].
Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.
