News Release
October 2005

Moravian Orchestra to Celebrate Veteran’s Day with Benefit for Army Families

Bethlehem, Pa. October 27, 2005—The Moravian College Community Orchestra will present a Veteran’s Day Concert of patriotic music to benefit the Family Readiness Group of Company B, 228th Forward Support Battalion, the Bethlehem-area Pennsylvania National Guard Unit currently deployed in Iraq.

The concert will be held on Friday, November 11 at 8 p.m., in Foy Concert Hall, located on Moravian’s Priscilla Payne Hurd Campus at the corner of Main and Church Streets in Bethlehem. All seats are $6 (the soldiers’ families will attend at no charge).

The program includes guest speakers from the political and military sector, as well as American music of two centuries. The orchestra will be conducted by James Earl Barnes, associate professor of music and director of instrumental music at Moravian College; and Gregory Oaten, artist-lecturer in music (tenor) at the College, will be the vocal soloist.

Colonel Jesse Deets, the regimental commander, Major Scott Dillman, executive officer of the rearguard support unit for the battalion, and Rhonda Celoso, president of the Company B Family Readiness Group, will speak at the concert. Others who have been invited include Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan ’91.

Music will include “The Star-Spangled Banner,” “You’re a Grand Old Flag,” the Civil War tune “Round Her Neck She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,” “Hymn to the Fallen” from Saving Private Ryan, the theme from Band of Brothers, and “God Bless America,” as well as other classic and contemporary patriotic works. The audience will be invited to sing along for the national anthem and the finale, and to recite as a group the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. The battalion’s color guard will add an element of military ceremony to the concert.

Tickets may be purchased in advance by calling 610 861-1650. In addition, the college will collect donations at the door for the Company B Family Readiness Group, a tax-exempt organization (all donations are tax-deductible).

Family Readiness Groups across the country help the immediate families of deployed soldiers cope with their absence by providing a support system that includes financial assistance, information for the unit, and social events

Moravian College is a private, coeducational, selective liberal arts college located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Tracing its founding to 1742, it is recognized as America's sixth-oldest college. Visit the web site at www.moravian.edu.