The Central Arizona Concert Band, comprising some fifty of the finest local professional and amateur musicians, returns to the stage at Embry-Riddle University for the first of four concerts in the new season. Downbeat for the concert is at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 9 at the Davis Learning Center on the Embry-Riddle campus, 3700 Willow Creek Rd.

Maestro Clydene Dechert promises a season filled with various works ranging from the traditional Sousa-type marches to Latin rhythms to folk melodies and even some classical pieces arranged especially for brass wind ensembles.

The concert opens with “The Untitled March,” a Sousa march that was only discovered among his papers after his death. After a delightful interlude with “La Linea Spanish Waltz,” the band will offer an arrangement of “Scherzo, Opus 1,” by Dmitri Shostakovich. Then, on a somewhat lighter note, the Band will turn to a suite of traditional English folk songs including “The Oak and The Ash,” “Barbara Allen,” “The Girl I Left Behind Me” and “The British Grenadiers.”

The program’s high point comes with a piece named “The Witching Hour,” in which the Band paints a musical picture of the nefarious practices of the mysterious cult. Follow the musical action with “The Clock Strikes Midnight,” “The Gathering,” “Spells and Incantations,” “The Witches’ Dance,” and concluding with “The Witches’ Flight.”

General admission is $12 for Adults and $5 for students.  Tickets may be purchased at a discount online, at www.centralarizonaconcertband.com.

Information provided by The Central Arizona Concert Band.