Lake Michigan College Mendel Center to host free community concert featuring the U.S. Army Field Band and Soldiers’ Chorus  

BENTON HARBOR, MICH. – The internationally acclaimed United States Army Field Band & Soldiers’ Chorus will continue its long tradition of presenting free public performances when it returns to Southwest Michigan this spring. The Lake Michigan College Mendel Center will host this special community performance at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 8, in the Jenkins Theatre. 

 

The Concert Band & Soldiers’ Chorus are the oldest and largest of The U.S. Army Field Band’s performing components. These two ensembles combine to present joint concerts on their national tours. They have performed in all 50 states and 30 foreign countries for audiences totaling hundreds of millions. The 60-member Concert Band and 29-member Soldiers’ Chorus perform regularly in some of the world’s most famous concert halls and just as often in the humblest auditoriums in the smallest of communities.  

 

The joining of these two ensembles allows them to offer unparalleled versatility of programming, ranging from orchestral masterworks and operatic arias to Sousa marches, jazz classics, and Broadway musicals. The band and chorus also perform independently and have shared the stage with the Boston Pops, the Cincinnati Pops, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra.   

 

In addition to their national tours, formal concerts, chamber recitals, and educational outreach, members of the Concert Band and Soldiers’ Chorus frequently represent the Army at formal and ceremonial functions, including the Presidential Inaugural Parade, presidential funerals, the Army All-American Bowl, and diplomatic efforts overseas. More than six decades as the military’s most traveled musicians have earned them the title, “The Musical Ambassadors of the Army.”  

 

Tickets for The United States Army Field Band & Soldiers’ Chorus are available now at www.TheMendelCenter.com/events. Tickets are free with a limit of four per order. 

 

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Mendel Center 2024-2025 Season Sponsors 

Stage Side Sponsors: Sturgis Bank, TPC Technologies, White Space Events 

Platinum Sponsor: CK Catering, Forte Coffee 

Media Partners: 97.5 Y Country, 98.3 The Coast, The Herald Palladium, The Lake 95.7, MailMax, News/Talk 94.9 WSJM, Rock 107 WIRX, Classic Hits COSY 103.7 

Preferred Partner Hotels: The Boulevard Inn & Bistro, Hilton Garden Inn Benton Harbor/St. Joseph 

Artistic Partners: Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, Twin City Players 

 

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About the Lake Michigan College Mendel Center 

The Lake Michigan College Mendel Center raised the curtain on its first Mendel Center season performance in the fall of 1992. Since then, it has presented performances and guest speakers to more than half a million patrons in the 1,489-seat Mendel Center Jenkins Theatre. Grand Upton Hall, first opened in 1979 and fully renovated in 2019, is a 13,700-square-foot venue serving the community as the host site for meetings, banquets, trade shows, weddings, and other celebrations. The 229-seat Hanson Theatre, renovated in 2020, hosts numerous Lake Michigan College Visual & Performing Arts Department performances, as well as a variety of Mendel Center and community events.  

 

The Mendel Center is 30 minutes from Niles and 40 minutes from the Kalamazoo and South Bend areas. It is located on the Lake Michigan College campus at 2755 E. Napier Avenue, Benton Harbor, Michigan, one mile east of I-94 (Exit 30) and one mile west of the US 31 Bypass (exit 24). Its GPS mapping address is 1100 Yore Avenue, Benton Harbor, MI.