August 11, 2017

Band losing director Liljedahl

Greater Des Moines Community Band director David Liljedahl is leaving the post he has held for six years.


Liljedahl and his wife Deb, who plays in the band, are moving to Cedar Rapids at the end of August to be closer to family.


Assistant director Christa Miller will replace him as director.


"It has been my honor to serve as your director these past six years. It has been a great and wonderful musical adventure. No other ensemble in my experience has had the receptiveness and the ability to play at such a high musical level all the various styles we have presented to our audiences," Liljedahl said in a letter to the "famous and fierce musicians" of the GDMCB. "From Gabrieli to Spike Jones, with some Holst, Bartok, Gershwin and "Chicken Dances" thrown in just to make it interesting, you have enriched the lives of many Iowans."


The band will play at 4:30 p.m. Saturday on the Bill Riley Stage at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. It's last concert of the summer season is set for 7 p.m. Monday at the Grand Suites Retirement Campus, 3801 Grand Ave., Des Moines. The concert originally scheduled at Adel Acres in Adel on Monday night has been cancelled.

August 9, 2017

Band ends summer season at State Fair, Grand Suites Retirement Campus

The Greater Des Moines Community Band will play at 4:30 p.m. Saturday on the Bill Riley Stage at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. Musical selections will include "Midway March," "Armed Forces Salute," "National Guard March," "American Legion March," "Vietnam Veterans March," "Lawrence of Arabia," "Night and Day," "You're a Grand Old Flag," "Come Thou Fount," "America the Beautiful" and "The Stars and Stripes Forever."


Band members should report to the stage by 4 p.m. Parking around the fairgrounds is limited, so the best way to get there is by bus from the Iowa Capitol. The Bill Riley Stage is in the middle of the fairgrounds behind the Administration Building.  The State Fair website has a map of the grounds.


The concert scheduled for Monday, Aug. 14, at Adel Acres in Adel has been cancelled.


Instead, the band will play at the Grand Suites Retirement Campus, 3801 Grand Ave., Des Moines, starting at 7 p.m. The band's concert at the latter site on July 17 was cancelled due to the heat and humidity that day. Band members should report to the Grand Suites Retirement Campus on Monday by 6:30 p.m.


Monday's program will include "Liberty Bell," "Midway March," "Armed Forces Salute," "National Guard March," "Vietnam Veterans March," "Akali Ike Rag," "Lawrence of Arabia," "At the Movies, the Classics," "Night and Day," "God Bless America," "Come Thou Fount," "America the Beautiful" and "The Stars and Stripes Forever."