"Municipal Band prepares "Musical Tribute" to Arnold Lesser"

Director of the St. Joseph Municipal Band, Dr. Donald Moely, indicated the band concerts scheduled for Sunday, August 25 will feature a musical tribute to Arnold Lesser, which was Director of Bands of Lakeshore High School, from 1959 to 1982. The musicians that most closely worked the Mr. Lesser during his years at Lakeshore High School were James Bembenek, as band director at the high school and William Achterberg, band director at the Middle school, who will both be featured as guest conductors during the special tribute to Lesser. Also included in the concert will be Stacie Detgen who will guest direct the band in two opening numbers. Jenna Mammina who had Mr. Lesser as her junior high band teacher will be the featured guest vocalist and the Municipal Band Brass Quintet will also be performing.

The concert begins with the principal player of the band’s French Horn section, Stacie Detgen, comes to the podium to conduct the two opening numbers on the program: "Raggy Trombone," by W. H. Kiefer and "Kastagnetten," by Karel Bernard Pesar, arranged by Pavel Stanek.

Stacie Detgen has been a member of the St. Joe Municipal Band for 21 years and is in her 13th year of teaching instrumental music education and her 8th year at Charlotte Junior High School. She is a native of Buchanan, and began playing the French horn in 5th grade. Stacie has a Bachelors Degree from Michigan State University and a Master of Music Education degree from VanderCook College of Music in Chicago. Ms. Detgen has been a member of the Greater Lansing Symphony Orchestra, the Lansing Concert Band, the Meridian Community Band, the Capitol Area Brass Quintet, and the Charlotte Lawrence Avenue Methodist Church orchestra and brass choir.

Keeping with underlying concept of celebrating how people influence others, the program next features the leader of the saxophone section, Phil Barham, performing a duet with his former student of the St. Joseph High School band program, Andrea Steves. Andrea Steves began performing with the Municipal Band as a freshman at St. Joseph High School. She is now a sophomore double music and engineering major at the University of Michigan. The teacher–student saxophone duet featured will be "Adagio and Allegro from Sonata No. 1," by J. B. Loeillet

Other musical entertainment will be provided by the Municipal Band Brass Quintet. The Municipal Band Brass Quintet consists of William Camp, coordinator of the group, who is formerly of Niles but presently a professional trumpet player in Chicago. Craig Heitger, of South Bend is principal trumpet of the Elkhart Symphony Orchestra and teaches private trumpet lessons throughout the Michiana area. Jerry Lackey, who has been a band director in the South Bend Community School Corporation since 1965 and is currently band/orchestra director at Clay Middle School. Deb Durham, of Bridgman received her Bachelor of Music degree in horn performance from Western Michigan University. Alan Mitchell, trombonist, is an Assistant Professor of Music at Andrews University, where he is Director of Bands. The brass quintet will perform "Allegretto from "Sinfonietta," by Leos Janacek, arranged by John Schreckengost; "Divertimento Movement I," by Wolfgang A. Mozart, arranged by Steve Gamble, "Mood Island," by Errol Garner, and "When the Saints Go Marching In," arranged by Keith Snell.

The next part of the program is a Musical Tribute to the long time Director of Bands of Lakeshore High School, Arnold Lesser, who passed away this summer. The Musical Tribute to Arnold Lesser in Sunday’s concerts includes longtime music directors James Bembenek and William Achterberg, who worked with Arnold Lesser for many years in the Lakeshore Public Schools. Mr. Lesser earned his master's degree in Music Education from Northwestern University and began his prominent career as the Music Department Chairman at New Buffalo High School in 1947 until 1959. He wrote the music for the New Buffalo school. During his years at New Buffalo, he directed all music groups, vocal and instrumental, and did all the school musicals. In fact the first day at New Buffalo, there were only 7 students in the band and it grew from there. Beginning in the fall of 1959, Mr. Lesser served as Music Department Chair at Lakeshore High School, until his retirement in 1982. His excellent work continued in the Lakeshore Public Schools where he worked with his assistant band director James Bembenek at the High school and William Achterberg at the junior high. Both of these directors will be featured guest conductors at the concerts today. Arnold Lesser was also a member of the St. Joseph Municipal Band in the 60's under John E. N. Howard. His favorite musical was "The Music Man" by Meredith Wilson. He loved Scott Joplin - "The Entertainer" and Glenn Miller tunes along with "The Great Waldo Pepper March" from the movie of the same name. One of his favorite band composition was Alfred Reed’s "First Suite for Band", part of which will be conducted by James Bembenek in the concert today. Mr. Lesser loved model railroads, and was a member of the New Buffalo Railroad Museum. He was a volunteer at the River Valley Senior Center, and served on the Center's board from 1984 until 2000. Mr. Lesser was also a member of the Hesston Steam Museum, the Rocks Bowling Team at Lakeshore Lanes, served as the Parade Master for the Berrien County Youth Fair for many years, and was a member of the Three Oaks American Legion, Post 204. Mr. Lesser was an avid stamp collector and enjoyed playing in the Harry Diffendorfer Dance Band. His former students loved him. At his funeral, many of his former students were overheard saying "I would have quit school if it wasn't for Mr. Lesser and band."

The musical tribute part of the concert begins with a guest vocalist, Jenna Mammina whose band teacher in junior high was Mr. Lesser. She will sing "Killing me Softly" and "The Girl from Ipanema" Jenna said of her first experience in her junior high band activity with Mr. Lesser that "he was a really sweet and very smart man." Ms. Mammina believes her artistry as a singer has a lot to do with her life growing up in St. Joseph. She is a true reflection of the diverse ethnic, cultural and creative atmosphere of St. Joseph, Michigan. Jenna indicated, "I’ve always been surrounded by music, art, and people from all kinds of backgrounds. My mother is Native American and Spanish, and my father is Italian–his family came from Sicily. We’d have tortillas for breakfast and pasta for dinner," she remembers with a laugh. "There was always music around. My brothers and sisters are all singers. My mother liked to listen to a big-band station while she cleaned the house, and that’s how I fell in love with Ella Fitzgerald. One of my dad’s best friends is the great jazz piano player Gene Harris. And growing up in Michigan our heroes were the musicians who came from the state–all the Motown artists of course, and Aretha Franklin, Betty Carter, Abbey Lincoln and later on, Madonna. We were active in our local church and sang there, both the heavy-duty Catholic liturgical music and some more contemporary folkish kinds of things, too. And through my mom’s Native American heritage–we would spend time with her family in New Mexico– I discovered a whole other spiritual aspect, a tradition of healing through music."

Next in the tribute we feature William Achterberg as guest director. As the middle school director in the Lakeshore band program, he worked closely with Mr. Lesser for many years and will conduct appropriately a composition commissioned and dedicated to the Lakeshore Band program, "Fanfare, Hymn & Dedication" by Ed Huckeby.

William Achterberg attended the St. Joseph Public Schools with band director John E. N. Howard and graduated in 1956, after which he attended Western Michigan University and obtained his degree in Music Education. In 1960 he married Vivian Hoover and moved to Michigan State University to work toward his Masters Degree in music Education, graduating in 1961. He then taught all areas of instrumental music at Hartford Public schools. In 1964 he accepted the Junior High School Band position at Lakeshore Public Schools working with Mr. Arnold Lesser, High School Band Director. In 1997 he retired from Public School Teaching after 33 years as Lakeshore Junior High/Middle School band director. Mr. Achterberg is currently a licensed realtor with Meredith & Kamp in Stevensville. The Achterbergs have three adult children and five grandchildren.

Next the concert features James Bembenek as guest conductor who will direct one of Mr. Lesser favorite band compositions "First Suite for Band," by Alfred Reed. The band will perform two movements of the work: III. Rag, and IV. Gallop.

James Bembenek graduated from Michigan State University and began his career as band director for the Bridgman Public Schools in 1966. During his tenure as director at Bridgman, he saw the band program grow in size and took his band to the prestigious Festival of States in St. Petersburg Florida only to come home with the "Heart of St. Petersburg" trophy. In the fall of 1975 he joined the Lakeshore Band Program. He worked with Arnie Lesser over the next 15 years to develop the Lakeshore program into one of the finest in the state. Arnie and Jim were a good team and developed the Lakeshore Marching Band to a high of 178 students. One of these students was Lori VonKoenig, Lakeshore’s present band director, who Arnie and Jim are extremely proud of. Jim is presently the director of Technology and Media Services at the Berrien County Intermediate School District

The concert concludes with a circus march by Karl King entitled "Circus Days."

The concerts are free to the public and are held at 3:30 and 7:30 p.m., each Sunday for the rest of the summer and including Labor Day, at the John E. N. Howard Band Shell across from the Whitcomb in downtown St. Joseph.