Homecoming 2009 celebrates 200 years with 900 performers

Miami University continues its Bicentennial celebration with Homecoming 2009: "Live the Legacy" Oct. 23-24. This year's Homecoming honors Miami's 200th anniversary with a parade, a picnic, football vs. Northern Illinois, and a performance extravaganza that features jazz legend Benny Golson and newly written musical scores.

Events begin at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, with a parade from Oxford Uptown Parks to Millett Hall. A “BBQ Birthday Picnic” will be held 6-8 p.m. in front of Millett Hall; a pep rally in front of Millett begins at 7 p.m. after the parade.

The LegacyFest performance begins at 8 p.m., also at Millett Hall. The concert extravaganza features NEA Jazz Master Benny Golson, tenor sax, and 900 performers including members of the Miami University Marching Band, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, Combined Choirs (Glee Club, Choraliers, Chamber Singers, Collegiate Chorale, Men’s Glee Club) and Talawanda Schools bands and choirs.

The showcase performance includes music commissioned for Miami’s Bicentennial as well as familiar favorites. Commissioned pieces include a work by Benny Golson, whose lifetime compositions include scores for TV hits such as are those for M*A*S*H, Mannix, Mission Impossible, Mod Squad, and The Partridge Family. He has composed and arranged music for Count Basie, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Sammy Davis Jr., Mama Cass Elliott, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Shirley Horn, David Jones and the Monkees, Quincy Jones and numerous others.

Other commissioned work will be presented by James Lentini, dean of the School of Fine Arts: “The Trees of Miami,” for wind ensemble and combined choirs; David Shaffer, marching band director emeritus: “Miami Memories,” a fantasy on Miami’s school songs; James Sheppard, professor of music: “Ironwood Fanfare” for wind ensemble; Roger Davis, associate professor of music: “Miami, The Unfinished Canon" for brass ensemble; and Andrew Goldie, 2009 Miami graduate: “Quest Forth: A Bicentennial Fanfare.”

LegacyFest is presented by the Miami University Performing Arts Series in collaboration with the department of music, with funding from the Ohio Arts Council. Tickets for the LegacyFest concert are $20 for adults, $19 for senior citizens, and $10 for students and youth, available at the box office in Shriver Center, at www.tickets.muohio.edu or at (513) 529-3200.

Tickets for the BBQ Birthday Picnic are $8 BBQ platter, $4 hot dog and chips, $2.50 birthday cupcake, and may be purchased in person at the box office in Shriver Center or by calling the box office.

Other Homecoming events include:

• Thursday, Oct. 22: 6 p.m., Alumni Association Awards Dinner, Shriver Center multipurpose room. Order tickets, $35, by 5 p.m. Oct. 19 by contacting Toni Gebhart at 529-8137 or gebhartl@muohio.edu;
• Saturday, Oct. 24: Tailgate Town, 11 a.m. -1 p.m. ; live music, food and games; $15 youth, $20 adult; Miami RedHawks vs. Northern Illinois Huskies, 1 p.m. at Yager Stadium; $15 youth, $20 adult; tickets for both events are available by calling the Miami athletics RedHawks ticket office at 529-4295.