The La Porte City Band kicked off its 2013 summer concert season with the first concert taking place on June 12, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. at the band shell in Fox Park. With this first concert, Mr. Charles Steck started the season as director of the band. He replaces James Burden, who retired after forty-five seasons on the podium at the conclusion of last summer’s concert series.
Mr. Steck is Assistant Director of Band and Choir at LaPorte High School, where he teaches Band, Men's Chorus, Music Theory, and Music History. He is also Trumpet Instructor at Valparaiso University. He holds both a Bachelor of Music Education and a Master of Music from Valparaiso University, and has done advance study at the VanderCook College of Music and the Chicago Musical College.
Mr. Steck is the principal trumpet and Associate Conductor of the LaPorte County Symphony Orchestra, and was a member of the Municipal Band trumpet section for 38 years.
In addition, he performs regularly with the St. Joseph Municipal Band, the, the Elkhart County Symphony Orchestra, the North American Brass Company, and the Tom Milo Big Band. He is a member of Bethany Lutheran Church, where he directs the Sanctuary Choir.
Selections for the band’s first concert of the summer included:
Flourish for Winds, Ralph Vaughn Williams
A Jubilant Overture, Alfred Reed
Caprice for Band, Rex Mitchell
Fantasy on American Sailing Songs, Clare Grundman
Valdres, Johannes Hansen
Holiday for Winds, Glenn Osser
Theme from "The Magnificent Seven, Elmer Bernstein
Selections from "Oliver!", Lionel Bart
Brighton Beach, William Latham