CAPE MUNICIPAL BAND WILL PERFORM ON THE RIVERFEST MAIN STAGE TONIGHT

The Cape Girardeau Municipal Band will perform tonight at Riverfest at 8:30 p.m. on the main stage on Spanish Street.

In addition to usual programming, several guest soloists will appear with the band, under the direction of Jon Kent Fisher.

Marc Fulgham, principal trumpet with the municipal band, will be featured on a trumpet solo entitled "Portrait of a Trumpet." Fulgham is in his third year as instructor of trumpet at Southeast Missouri State University. Before joining the Southeast faculty, Fulgham taught for seven years at Southwest Missouri State University and was co-principal trumpet in the Springfield Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to his full-time teaching duties, Fulgham works as a clinician, judge and soloist. He is also principal trumpet of the Paducah Symphony.

Following the trumpet solo, the band will perform the score from the Broadway musical "Phantom of the Opera."

Joining the band will be soprano soloist Nona Chapman. She sings with the First Presbyterian Church choir and the Southeast Missouri State University Choral Union. She has performed with the municipal band and at Riverfest many times.

At the end of the program the band will perform the score from the Broadway musical "Sound of Music," with soloist Lizbeth Estes Reszel. Reszel is a native of Cape Girardeau and has been living and working in Chicago for two years. Formerly a student with the American Opera Workshop, her Chicago credits include professional engagements with the Chicago Symphony Chorus, Grant Park Symphony, Ravinia Summer Festival and full-time positions with Oak Park Temple and Temple Sinai Chicago.

During the summer, she created the role of Anabel in a new opera "Anabel, My Dear" and recorded the work for an opera video project to raise money for the opera's opening.

The concert will conclude with the performance of "America the Beautiful" featuring a vocal quartet comprised of Reszel, Chapman, Ronald Nall and Eric Scott.

The celebrity guest conductor for the program will be the newly-crowned Miss Riverfest. One of her first duties will be to conduct the band on "Fairest of the Fair March."

Other selections on the program include: "The Golden Year March," commissioned by the municipal band for its 50th anniversary under city sponsorship; "A Festival Overture" and "Johnny Comes Marching Home."

The public is invited to bring a lawn chair or blanket and join the band on the Courthouse terraces.