Rockwall to host Memorial Concert May 27 featuring War Letters

(ROCKWALL, TX – May 17, 2016) The City of Rockwall will present a free, commemorative Memorial Day concert at 7 p.m. Friday, May 27 at the Harbor Amphitheater.

“Last year was our first civic celebration of Memorial Day,” said Christopher Lynch, Memorial Day Planning Committee Chairman. “We remembered those who have fallen by featuring music associated with each of our major wars from the Revolutionary War to the Global War on Terror.”

Lynch said the committee wanted to build on last year’s remembrance theme and chose to read archived War Letters from armed forces members and families during warfare, pairing the readings with appropriate musical selections.

Concert Director Chris Kosterman designed the concert’s War Letters program around five performance elements: Letters Home, Courage in Battle, The Ultimate Sacrifice, The Call of Duty and The Horror of War. Noah Goodwin, Leonardo Rodriguez, Dani Monaco and Kayla Broadax, all Rockwall High School students, will read selections of archived letters for each element.

Music is paired with each performance element to reinforce the message in the letters. Hannah Dodson from Rockwall High School will sing “Letters from War.” Courage in battle will be represented by Rockwall’s Community Band playing “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Kennedy Matthews from Rockwall High School will sing “Just a Dream” to complement letters about the ultimate sacrifice. The stirring march “E Pluribus Unum” played by the band will follow letters about the call of duty. Jamie Timpa from Rockwall Heath High School will sing the iconic Vietnam War protest song “Eve of Destruction” to reinforce the letters about the horror of war.

The Rockwall Community Band, directed by Mike McGill, plays for the second year in a row. The band will open the concert with “The National Anthem” and close the concert with a very special piece of music “Armed Forces, Pride of America.” McGill deliberately chose the closing piece because “it incorporates all musical elements of patriotism for the United States of America.”

The Rockwall Police Department’s Honor Guard will present the nation’s colors during the anthem. Rockwall Mayor Jim Pruitt will open the concert and Gary Freedman will narrate.

Submitted by Lt. Colonel T. J. Galli, US Army Ret.

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