“The President’s Own” United States Marine Band will perform a free concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, at the Clover School District Auditorium as part of the band’s National Concert Tour.
Free tickets are available now by phone, and organizers ask that each household limit its request to four.
The concert puts one of the country’s oldest military institutions on a western York County stage at no charge to residents. The auditorium, which sits near Clover High School and seats about 1,500 people, is among the largest performance venues in the area.
How to Get Tickets
To request tickets, call the auditorium at 803.222.8018, select option 4 and leave your complete name and mailing address. Seating is general admission.
Ticket holders must be in their seats by 7:15 p.m. At that time, any remaining seats will be released to people waiting in the standby line, so residents without tickets may still get in if they arrive early.
What Is on the Program
This year’s tour is tied to the nation’s 250th anniversary, according to a report published this week. The Clover program is expected to range from John Philip Sousa’s march “The Invincible Eagle” to music from the film “E.T.” and the Broadway musical “Wicked.” The same report said the monthlong tour includes 27 performances in seven states, most of them in the Southeast.
Tour concerts typically run about two hours, and roughly 65 of the band’s musicians travel each October, according to the Marine Band. While on the road, the band also offers free clinics to school music programs near its concert stops.
A Band With Presidential Roots
Founded in 1798, the Marine Band is the oldest continuously active professional musical organization in the United States. It has performed for every president since John Adams and has been known as “The President’s Own” since the days of Thomas Jefferson. Its mission is to provide music for the President of the United States and the Commandant of the Marine Corps.
The band’s touring tradition dates to 1891, when Sousa, then its 17th director, persuaded President Benjamin Harrison to let the ensemble leave Washington. The first tour opened that April in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and covered 32 cities across the Northeast and Midwest. The tour became an annual event in 1920 and has continued every year since, with breaks only during wartime, federal sequestration and public health crises.
Full concert details are available at www.marineband.marines.mil/Tour
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Thomas Hyslip lives in Tega Cay with his wife and daughter. After 27 years in the U.S. Army and Federal Law Enforcement, he retired to pursue his passion for teaching. Tom is now an Associate Professor of Instruction at the University of South Florida. In 2 short years he has won 10 awards from the South Carolina Press Association, including first place in column writing, education beat reporting and best podcast.
