MADISON – Touring the country since 1925, the United States Navy Concert Band has scheduled a free concert in Huntsville.

The concert venue will be Huntsville High School Auditorium, 2304 Billie Watkins St., on Feb. 13 at 7 p.m.

Associated with the band’s 2024 national tour, the performance by the U.S. Navy’s premier band for North Alabama will be free and open to the public. This family-friendly event’s objective is to connect with veterans, families, individuals and those interested in joining the Navy.

The U.S. Navy Concert Band is the top-tier wind ensemble for this military branch. As the original ensemble of the Navy Band, the Concert Band has been performing public concerts and participating in high-profile events for 99 years. The band performs a wide array of marches, patriotic selections, orchestral transcriptions and modern wind compositions.

The full ensemble, along with small groups of varied instrumentation and voices, can entertain in several music genres. A trio of strings, primarily violins or ‘fiddles’ in this scenario, can deliver a toe-tapping country tune. The jazz ensemble plays upbeat standards from the 1940s to contemporary times. These musicians have mastered a vast repertoire.

Past tours have included performances at major municipal halls, community centers, countless universities, outdoor venues and the American Bandmasters Association Annual Convention. These patriotic concerts range from traditional to contemporary and showcase the versatility of the band’s different units.

Ensembles from the Navy Band tour nationally for 12 to 15 weeks each year. Sailors in the Navy Band are full-time professional musicians. Most sailors in the Navy Band have undergraduate degrees in music, and many have graduate degrees.

Each year, all the band’s primary performing units tour on concert tours throughout specified regions of the country. This schedule allows the band to reach out to audiences that do not have opportunities to see the Navy’s musicians regularly.

“For many years, Navy bands have been where it matters, when it matters, just like the rest of our Navy. Today, we have sailors performing around the world, improving relations with our allies abroad as well as telling the Navy story here at home,” according to a Navy spokesperson.

The U.S. Navy Band is based at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington D.C.·

For more information, visit www.navyband.navy.mil.