TROY – For Troy University’s Director of Band Ralph Ford, this month’s “Salute to Our Veterans and Armed Forces” concerts have a personal tone.

“I’ve always had strong family ties to the military and I feel like the concerts are the right thing to do, particularly now during a time of war,” Ford said. “It’s important that our fighting men and women know that we support them and respect the sacrifice they are making in defense of freedom, our country and our way of life.”

The Troy University Symphony Band concert opens at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 9 in the Claudia Crosby Theater on the Troy Campus.

Two new aspects have been added to this year’s concert: the inclusion of the Celebration Singers, under the direction of Frank Nihart, and the world premier of a major work by a TROY student.

The Celebration Singers, the adult choir of Troy’s First Baptist Church, will perform the band’s “Salute to the Armed Forces Medley,” as well as arrangements of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “God Bless America,” Ford said. Nihart and Anna Orlofsky will be featured soloists during “God Bless America.”

“The other really unique thing about this concert is a world premier of a score by senior music education major David Samuel of Pensacola, Fla. It’s the first time in the history of the Symphony Band that we’ve premiered a major work for concert band by a student here at the University,” Ford said.

It’s the eighth year the Symphony Band has offered the performance, which is free and open to the public.

“It’s important to say ‘thank you’ to those who have served and it’s important that we lend our support to those who are defending freedom today,” Ford said of the concert. “It’s our small gift to those people are in position to have to make the ultimate sacrifice. It’s the least we can do.”

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