Stetson University’s Symphonic Band, Douglas Phillips, conductor, will perform Friday, Oct. 19, at 7:30 p.m. in Lee Chapel, inside Elizabeth Hall, 421 N. Woodland Blvd. on Stetson’s DeLand campus.

Douglas Phillips, acting director of bands at Stetson, received his undergraduate music degree from Stetson in 1999 and has since been a professional music educator and band conductor. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts in Instrumental Conducting from the University of Miami in May 2012, and now serves on the Board of Directors of the National Band Association as the chair of the NBA Awards Committee.

Comprised of 102 undergraduate students, the Symphonic Band will be performing six pieces. Symphonic Movement by Václav Nelhýbel, opens the concert. Bennet’s Triumphal, a “quick-step” march, immediately follows the concert opener.

Elegy for a Young American, written in 1964, was dedicated to the memory of John F. Kennedy. The music portrays the various stages of grief, such as shock and denial. A brisk, rapid tempo celebrates the contributions by Kennedy, and the piece concludes majestically yet solemnly to remind us of the loss.

Lincolnshire Posy by Percy Grainger from Lincolnshire, England, is fourth on the program, and is a cornerstone piece in band repertoire. This six-movement work is based on folksongs collected by the composer. Each movement expresses a musical portrayal of various singers, a portrayal of their habits, personality, wonts of rhythm, preferred form of delivery, contrasts of legato and staccato, and tendency toward breadth of delicacy of tone.

Movement II after “The Thunderer” from Symphony on Themes of John Philip Sousa by Ira Hearshen, will be featured as well. Hearshen admits, “I began the piece by taking the ‘trio’ theme from the march, ‘The Thunderer,’ slowing it down to a tempo of 48 beats per minute and casting it in the style of the Finale of Mahler’s Third Symphony.”  Hearshen knew he had something unique and from there, began writing a full-scale symphony from it.

Roman Carnival Overture by Hector Berlioz, and transcribed for band by Joseph Kreines, concludes the concert; it features the composer’s favorite overture format beginning with a rousing opening section that makes way for a slower more lyrical section, culminating in a fast, jubilant ending. A burst of festive music from the opera’s carnival (Benvenuto Cellini) begins the work, followed by an extended English horn solo beginning the slower section with the theme from the love duet. The work builds in intensity, although Berlioz introduces a few surprises, including one point at which the music builds to a climax only to introduce a fugal section, delaying the overture’s triumphant, glorious conclusion.

General admission-$10; seniors-$8; area students-$5; free to Stetson faculty, students, staff with IDs. For more information, contact the School of Music (386) 822-8950; Concert Line (386) 822-8947; www2.stetson.edu/music for more information.