Sousa Foundation Seeks to Promote International Understanding through Band Music

This weekend 78 outstanding student musicians from 19 states stretching from Maine, south to North Carolina, and west to Oregon will come to Massachusetts to learn to play together in preparation for their European Tour starting on July 4th.    The John Philip Sousa Foundation, for the past 30 years, has sponsored a tour such as this in their efforts for U.S. student musicians to connect with fellow musicians in other countries.  The John Philip Sousa Foundation is a non-profit foundation dedicated to the promotion of international understanding through the medium of band music.

“The students will have a home visit in Belgium with another youth band, and then play a concert with them” says Thomas Reynolds of Templeton, Massachusetts who is the Tour Director and is also a board director of the Lowell Mason Foundation.   “Interacting and connecting with fellow students who also share a passion for music will be a wonderful experience for them”.  Besides performing 15 concerts in Belgium, Holland, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and France over the two weeks of the tour, the students will cruise down the Rhine River, ride a gondola up Europe's highest mountain peak, Mont Blanc, and visit daVinci’s “The Last Supper” fresco in Milan, Italy. 

This year, for the first time ever, the Sousa Honors Band and Choir will kick off their tour with a formal concert here in the States.  The evening of July 3rd at 7:30 PM the group will present a concert at Medfield High School's Lowell Mason Auditorium.  The band and choir will perform a variety of works including original works for band and choir, orchestral transcriptions, marches, popular numbers, patriotic music, European favorites, and combined vocal and instrumental pieces.  “The kids are all very enthusiastic about coming to Medfield to perform, “says Mr.
Reynolds.  “The fact that Lowell Mason was born in Medfield and is responsible for the teaching of music in our schools is something they think is pretty cool. 
This concert will be a great way for the communities in and around Medfield to kick off the Independence Day holiday”

Tickets for this unique concert are $12 for Adults and $10 for Seniors/Students and will benefit the restoration of the Lowell Mason House on Green Street. Tickets can be purchased online at www.lowellmasonhouse.org, Park Street Bookstore at 504 Main Street, Medfield or at the door.

About the Lowell Mason Foundation

Lowell Mason (1792-1872) was born in Medfield, Massachusetts and is considered the Father of Music Education in America  He was instrumental to introducing music as part of the regular curriculum to America’s public schools as well as professionalizing the teaching of music.  The Lowell Mason Foundation was
formed in 2010 by a group of concerned Medfield citizens and music educators
after it was learned that Lowell Mason’s birthplace had been sold and was slated for demolition.  In one year the group successfully moved the house to safety, which occurred on April 19, 2011.  The Foundation continues to raise funds to restore and expand Lowell Mason’s birthplace for use as a historic, cultural and educational site.