Saturday, July 21, 2007, 20th Anniversary Concert

I’m up with the sun and the birds to get the day’s best worms. Out the door by 8:15 am., I’m heading for Shaw’s Restaurant and breakfast with Ma and Pa Kohn, who wore themselves out the day before while doing the Friday evening Lanfest ArtWalk around the Downtown. As I was being seated for breakfast, Maestro Sheldon emerged from the elevator to join me at my table for his breakfast cereal. The kitchen and waitressing staff have served both of us for so many years that they know that Gary’s favorite is Cherrios, Arnett is a big fan of creamed chip beef on white toast.

Ma and Pa were stiff, but on time for their breakfast, promising Maestro to help get me to rehearsal on time that morning. I was at rehearsal punctually, we rehearsed our selections and I intentionally kept the cadenza short. But my unannounced plans were to serve up my surprise solo, quickly wading into the Lancaster Fight Song and if I got the crowd’s reaction in the first few seconds, ...

My performance that day honored the twentieth anniversary of the Lanfest Orchestra, the fortieth anniversary of my professional music debut in 1967 and the ninetieth birthday of Ray Starrett, my first band director and friend for forty-seven of my fifty-seven years. Unfortunately, when I drove home to Plain City after rehearsal, the surprise party had been canceled when he was hospitalized with blood complications.

Mr. Starrett and Dr. Joe Whitlatch, who instead of spending his eighty-seventh with friends and family at Lanfest, underwent gall bladder surgery at Mt. Carmel East Hospital, were in my prayers. Jeanette Scholl and I entered the gates, as the opening cannon sounded at 5:30 pm. and the OU-L lawns were the perfect color, thanks to the recent rains, skies were blue and without a hint of storms. We were in for a perfect night.

I had two tables of guests; Millie and Byron Kohn, the Whitlatch Family drove from the hospital to Lanfest, Sherry and Bob Bowers left the fruit farm in nearby Laurelville for the anniversary concert, Fred (Dad) Holdridge led the German Village party of Kevin Miles, Jim Arter, Mary Kay and John Carter, Stephanie (sister) and Fred Harris rolled in from East Columbus/Reynoldsburg. After a thirty minute search for lost tickets, Kevin and Kristen Kern, of Marysville, found them between the car seats and arrived right before the downbeat of the concert.

Promptly at 8:15 pm., Maestro Sheldon’s hit began the National Anthem, The Star Spangled Banner, and followed it with the Overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla, a selection performed at the premier of the Lanfest Orchestra in 1988. I was then welcomed on stage to play the Haydn.


I played farely well; I only noticed two tiny tonal blips, when I ever-so-slight overblew higher notes, which is easy to do when your pounding heart is pressuring your embochure to perfection. The hundreds of times I rehearsed payed off and when I arrived at the part of the cadenza that I had lifted from Wynton, it flowed out perfectly and led me to the moment to toy with the local audience.

I looked at the score and rushed into Stand Up and Cheer, the fight song of the Lancaster High School Golden Gales. Within the first four notes I heard the laughter and cheer rise suddenly and wrecklessly I sped through the first section, on towards the finish. The cheering grew and when I reached the last three measures, I slowed the tempo and marched the last four notes into a trill and gave Maestro Sheldon the downbeat to bring the Orchestra to the finale.

I milked the audience, they milked me and I was done with the Haydn. Two songs later, six of us trumpeters walked onstage to play Leroy Anderson’s Bugler’s Holiday, which the Columbus Dispatch reviewer said was "the highlight of the show."

The Lanfest stage was full of bright musical moments; cello solist Sara Sant’Ambrogio was featured in a duet with her father and cello teacher, John. The Chicago Brass Quintet was featured on the Austurian Fandago, performance artist Robert Post presented his unique humor in a lampoon of televison chefs.

Pianist Jon Kamura (Jackie) Parker’s gentle performance of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto # 2 was my highlight of the evening. When he and the Orchestra finished, Jackie and Maestro Sheldon leaped into each other’s arms to symbolize the joy and love we all were immersed in on this homecoming day.

Livingston Taylor’s ten song set was part of the second half of the show and the fireworks finale brought the Lancaster Chorale on to sing America the Beautiful. After Strike Up the Band, I was miked and paraded from the rear of the audience to The Saints and was greeted by another wonderful audience response.

The Stars and Stripes Forever March by John Phillip Sousa ended the Twentieth Anniversary Concert and Diane Schick was in her piccolo glory, rising to the solo of America’s Official March. She plays with such a spirit.

When the fireworks ended and Maestro Sheldon returned to the stage with me in tow, I milked more from the audience and the parade to the parking lot began for thousands of Lanfest fans. We were just beginning our festival.