The State College Area Municipal Band will tell musical love stories

The State College Area Municipal Band will perform a special Valentine’s Day concert that showcases romantic music from the Great American Songbook and Broadway favorites.

The concert is scheduled for 3 p.m. Feb. 14 at the State College Area High School South auditorium.

Conducting will be Ned C. Deihl, now in his 20th year with the municipal band.

“This should be a fun concert — great songs, timeless tunes and lots of melody,” he said. “It’s music for lovers and others.”

The State College Area Municipal Band started in 1981 as a year-round band. Sponsored by Parks and Recreation, the band performs free concerts but appreciates donations to help with purchasing music and instruments. The band has grown to 70 players who play four indoor concerts each year — the Annual Veterans Day Concert, Winter Concert, Spring Concert and the annual Mother’s Day Concert, always Sunday afternoons.

“If the winter concert falls on or close to Feb. 14, we do a Valentine’s Day theme, one of our most popular concerts,” Deihl said.

This year the band will play love songs from the Great American Songbook — with songs by composers like Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Kern and Hammerstein and Rodgers and Hammerstein.

“These are excellent instrumental arrangements, not written for a singer,” Deihl said. “But the lyrics are so memorable that for the first time on one of our concerts, we have asked Helen Manfull to read them.”

Manfull, distinguished professor emerita in theatre arts at Penn State, will present romantic lyrics by Porter, Kern, Gershwin and Rodgers and Hammerstein. She appeared as the lead in Fuse Productions’ “4000 Miles” last year.

“We are very fortunate to have Helen appear with us,” Deihl said. “We are excited about having her and looking forward to hearing her bring these great love lyrics to life, so appropriate for Valentine’s Day.”

The program will also feature the music of two great love stories — excerpts from the opera “Andrea Chenier,” set in the French Revolution, and selections from Gershwin’s classic folk opera, “Porgy and Bess.”

Deihl thinks this concert, a very melodic pops concert, should appeal to all ages.

“The tunes are both timely for Valentine’s Day and timeless — spanning decades,” he said. “I’m excited about the Valentine program and the inspiring and romantic music. Treat your lover. Better than a box of chocolates!”

Due to construction, parking is now behind the State College High School South Building at the new main entrance. Handicapped parking only is located at the front of the buidling, left of the auditorium.

This story was originally published February 11, 2016 at 5:15 PM with the headline "The State College Area Municipal Band will tell musical love stories."