On Thursday, March 5, at 7 p.m. in Jackson Auditorium, the Texas Lutheran University Bands—comprised of the Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Winds—will present their third concert of the 2025–26 academic year. Titled Cosmopolitan America, the program features patriotic and celebratory works honoring the United States’ year-long commemoration of the nation’s 250th anniversary, the semiquincentennial of the Declaration of Independence. The TLU Wind Ensemble will also be sharing this program on a recruiting tour at New Braunfels, Samuel Clemens, and Steele High Schools.
Under the direction of Dr. Brett A. Richardson, Director of Bands and Baenziger Professor of Music, the concert opens with the TLU Symphonic Winds. The band begins with Travis J. Weller’s energetic Yankee Fanfare, a vibrant work based on the familiar American folk tune “Yankee Doodle.” The program continues with An American Celebration and For Our Heroes, selections that pay tribute to first responders, veterans, and members of the U.S. armed forces through imaginative treatments of “Taps,” “America, the Beautiful,” and “America.” The Symphonic Winds conclude their portion of the program with Chris Ferguson’s Liberty Square March, a lively collage of Americana incorporating melodies such as “Over There,” “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”
The second half of the concert features TLU’s premier wind ensemble, the TLU Wind Ensemble. The ensemble opens with Fanfare Politeia by Kimberly Archer, originally composed for the United States Marine Band, and premiered at the inauguration of President Joseph R. Biden. Derived from Plato’s Latin term for “republic,” the fanfare celebrates democratic ideals, free and fair elections, and the peaceful transfer of power. The program continues with Joseph Willcox Jenkins’ An American Overture for Band, a classic work evoking the spirit of the American West, followed by Dwayne Milburn’s multi-movement American Hymnsong Suite.
The Wind Ensemble will also perform Frank Ticheli’s deeply moving An American Elegy, composed in memory of the victims of the Columbine High School tragedy and in honor of the survivors. Ticheli describes the work as “above all, an expression of hope,” reminding listeners of the fragility of life and the shared humanity that binds us all. Since its premiere, the piece has been performed more than 10,000 times worldwide.
The concert concludes with Cosmopolitan America, an upbeat quick-step march by renowned bandleader Helen May Butler. Written for the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair and later selected as the official march for Theodore Roosevelt’s presidential campaign, the work reflects Butler’s significant legacy. A virtuoso musician and trailblazer, Butler led one of the premier all-female professional bands of her era and was often referred to as “the Female Sousa.”
The concert is free and open to the public. Following the performance, members of the Tau Beta Sigma band sorority will host a pie sale, with pies available for $15. The TLU Bands invite the community to join them for an evening celebrating America’s musical heritage.