Concert

Independence Day Salute

Fri, Jul 4 · 6:30 pm

Jay Pritzker Pavilion

1h 30m

This event has passed

Christopher Bell conducts the Grant Park Orchestra in this annual Chicago tradition. The family-friendly celebration includes patriotic favorites, Broadway showstoppers, and Yankee Doodle Fantasy, a musical barn-burner featuring the Festival’s own principal percussionist Josh Jones.

Featuring

Grant Park Orchestra
Christopher Bell Conductor
Josh Jones Marimba
Imara Miles Mezzo-Soprano

Program

Irving Berlin/Orchd. Sid Ramin Berlin Patriotic Overture
Arr. Charles Sayre Broadway Showstoppers
George Gershwin/Arr. Bill Holcombe Someone to Watch Over Me
Claude-Michel Schönberg/Arr. Bob Krogstad I Dreamed a Dream from Les Misérables
Duke Ellington/Arr. Calvin Custer Duke Ellington!
Traditional/Arr. Robert Hanson Yankee Doodle Fantasy
Peter Boyer Rolling River
Arr. Robert Wendel From Sea to Shining Sea
Arr. Robert Lowden Armed Forces Salute
John Philip Sousa The Liberty Bell March
Ward, Samuel/Arr. John Morris Russel and Tim Berens America the Beautiful
John Philip Sousa Stars and Stripes Forever

Program Notes

Grant Park Orchestra

Grant Park Orchestra

Orchestra

Grant Park Orchestra

Orchestra

The Grant Park Orchestra was formed in 1944 when the Chicago Park District assembled a single resident orchestra under the direction of Principal Conductor Nikolai Malko to perform at the Grant …
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Christopher Bell

Christopher Bell

Chorus Director

Christopher Bell

Chorus Director

Christopher Bell has served as Chorus Director of the Grant Park Chorus since 2002. Bell oversees a chorus of more than 100 singers, along with the Project Inclusion Vocal Fellows, a …
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Josh Jones

Josh Jones

Marimba

Josh Jones

Marimba

Josh Jones is a Chicago native and accomplished percussionist who has been playing drums since the age of three. His formal percussion studies began in fourth grade at the Percussion Scholarship …
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Imara Miles

Imara Miles

Mezzo-Soprano

Imara Miles

Mezzo-Soprano

Hailed for her expressiveness and lush sound, Imara Miles (She/They) is a mezzo-soprano from Washington, DC. With experience in both operatic and musical theater repertoire, Miss Miles has been a featured …
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Irving Berlin

Irving Berlin

Composer

Irving Berlin

Composer

With a life that spanned more than 100 years and a catalogue that boasted over 1,000 songs, Irving Berlin epitomized Jerome Kern's famous maxim that "Irving Berlin has no place in …
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George Gershwin

George Gershwin

Composer

George Gershwin

Composer

George Gershwin, born in Brooklyn, New York on September 26, 1898, was the second son of Russian immigrants. As a boy, George was anything but studious, and it came as a …
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John Philip Sousa

John Philip Sousa

Composer

John Philip Sousa

Composer

John Philip Sousa was born in Washington, D.C. on November 6, 1854. His father, John Antonio Sousa, was born in Spain of Portuguese parents, and his mother, Marie ElizabethTrinkaus, was born …
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Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington

Composer

Duke Ellington

Composer

Edward Kennedy Ellington (1899-1974), known as Duke Ellington, was born in Washington, DC into a family that belonged to the city's Black bourgeoisie. His father, James Edward Ellington, worked as a …
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Event Sponsors

This concert is generously supported by American Accents Series Sponsor AbelsonTaylor Group and NASCAR’s Chicago Street Race.

The appearance of Imara Miles is graciously made possible with support from the David H. Whitney and Juliana Y. Chyu Next Generation Vocalist Fund.

Special thanks to Nancy Meyerson and to the color guard from the Rickover Naval Academy, a Chicago public school.