The Lehighton Band will present a patriotic themed concert at 8 p.m. Thursday in Lehighton’s Upper Park Amphitheater.

There will also be a repeat performance of the concert in Weatherly’s Eurana Park at 7 p.m. Sunday.

The concert is primarily patriotic with a few other pieces mixed in.

The band will open with the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which opens with a spectacular fanfare and then proceeds to a rousing rendition of our national anthem.

The concert will open with John Philip Sousa’s “Liberty Bell March.”

The overture style piece is by Steven Reineke, and is titled “Rise of the Firebird.”

The band will then move to “A Nation’s Prayer,” which is a beautiful combination of “God of Our Fathers” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” arranged by James Ployhar.

The soloist for the evening will be Laura Reichard, who will play the hauntingly beautiful John Williams song “Theme from Schindler’s List.” Although the original version features a violin solo, Reichard will be playing this iconic piece on flute.

Reichard is the seventh- and eighth-grade music teacher at Palmerton Area School District, where she directs their band and chorus. She also teaches instrumental lessons at Carbon County Music and More in Lehighton, is the organist at both Zion UCC and first Presbyterian in Lehighton, and teaches dance at TNT Studio of Dance.

The arrangement of this song is by Calvin Custer.

Next, the band will play “Kentucky 1800” by Clare Grundman, adapted by Robert Longfield. This piece of American music includes “The Promised Land,” “I’m Sad and I’m Lonely” and “Cindy.” The band will follow this up with a march titled “March America” by Bill Moffit.

“Nettleton” is a song based on an early American hymn tune and is arranged by Johnnie Vinson. The audience may recognize it as the church hymn “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” The band will then play “America the Beautiful” followed by “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” both arranged by Bill Moffit.

“We Were Soldiers” is a 2002 movie that starred Mel Gibson. The movie contained the hymn style tune called the “Mansions of the Lord” which the band will present next. It is arranged by Ted Rickets. It will then be followed by Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” arranged by Johnnie Vinson.

The band will begin to wrap up the evening concert with “The Armed Forces Salute” which includes the songs of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marines. Any veteran or current service member will be encouraged to stand as their service song is played.

The concert will wrap up with playing of John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever March.”

In the event of rain, the Lehighton park concert will be played at the same time in the First Presbyterian Church, Third and Mahoning streets.

The Lehighton Band is thankful to First Presbyterian for opening their beautiful sanctuary to our band for these events. They will also be providing water for those in attendance.

Super Soft ice cream truck is also expected to be present at the Lehighton Concert.

The Weatherly concert is generously sponsored by the Borough of Weatherly, and after two summers of not appearing there due to COVID, the band is thrilled to once again be playing at the beautiful Eurana Park.

The Lehighton Band is under the direction of Bradly R. Cressley.

Barry Gangwer is scheduled to be the announcer for the concert.