Red Cedar Festival of Community Bands

Wind ensembles from across Michigan will gather at Okemos High School from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday for the Red Cedar Festival of Community Bands, an all-day gathering, first established in 1966, which features public performances and clinics geared toward musicians and music fans alike. Ten acts will take the stage in total, culminating in a set performed by the Meridian Community Band at 4:45 p.m.

Funded in part by a grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and administered by the Arts Council of Greater Lansing, this year’s festival will kick off with a 9:30 a.m. performance by the DeWitt Community Concert Band. Also taking the stage, in order of their scheduled appearances, are the Oakland Community College Symphony Band, Flint Symphonic Wind Ensemble, North Oakland Concert Band, Grand Ledge Community Band, Washtenaw Community Concert Band, Saginaw Area Concert Band, Royal Oak Concert Band and the Warren Concert Band.

The Meridian Community Band’s performance will open with the premier of the “Meridian Jubilee” by composer Tyler Mazone, a deaf, neurodivergent performer and activist who is working on his Doctorate in Music Composition at Michigan State University. Elsewhere on their setlist is the “Tuebor Concert Band Suite” by Andrew David Perkins, “Children’s March” by Percy Grainger and “On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss” by David Holsinger.

Attendance is free, but festival organizers are asking for donations from those who are able to do so. For more information, including the full lineup, visit https://www.meridiancommunityband.org/red-cedar-festival/?fbclid=IwAR1cOSXwxJ9t4DaWgDTlBmeQDSYOKeUQb5-z9F_pTk-DEEhZnkJWs6E6UYk