MC3 Band to present spring concert to close the season on April 7 at Clayton Center

March 27, 2024

Poster for the MC3 Band spring 2024 concert

As the 2023-24 academic year comes to a close, the members of the MC3 Band look forward to celebrating their accomplishments, both as individual musicians and as an ensemble, in a spring concert that will take place Sunday, April 7, in the Clayton Center for the Arts on the MC campus.

Since taking over as director at the start of the 2022-23 academic year, Jay Romines has watched membership numbers climb. As an ensemble made up of members of the community and Maryville College students and faculty, Romines said, the band continues to “perform at a very high level,” and the spring concert will be an opportunity for fine arts patrons and fans of the band to witness the growth and evolution of the MC3 Band.

In addition, Romines added, adult performers are complemented by high school musicians from Maryville, Alcoa and Heritage, adding youthful energy to the experience of long-time members. 

Established in 1992 by Professor Larry Smithee, the band is now in its 32nd year and uses symphonic band instrumentation to perform selections from the entire scope of the wind band tradition. Romines has served as the band director at Knoxville Catholic High School for almost a quarter century, and he’s taught saxophone at Maryville College for several years. The purpose, according to the Maryville College website, is “to provide a means of artistic expression for all of its members (community and student) within the wind band medium, and to provide MC students with the opportunity to perform and learn within a large ensemble setting. 

Since Romines began directing the ensemble, the Maryville College-Community Concert band has grown by leaps and bounds, taking over the stage and enthralling local listeners.

“The group continues to improve,” Romines said. “They have a tremendous work ethic in rehearsals and in their own individual practice sessions.”

For the spring concert, the band will feature two soloists: senior Daniel Vilaire ’24 performing “Zigeunerweisen” by Sarasate on the flute; and community member Zane Ballenger will be performing “Moon River” on English horn.

“All are invited to a wonderful evening of music in the outstanding Clayton Center for the Arts,” said Romines. In total, the MC3 Band will perform seven melodies, including “Florentiner March” by composers Fucik and Fennell and “This Cruel Moon” by John Mackey.

The MC3 Band spring performance will take place at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 7, in the Ronald and Lynda Nutt Theatre of the Clayton Center. Admission is free, and the concert is open to the public. For more information, call the Clayton Center Box Office at 865-981-8590.

Maryville College is a nationally-ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges. For more than 200 years we’ve educated students to be giving citizens and gifted leaders, to study everything, so that they are prepared for anything — to address any problem, engage with any audience and launch successful careers right away. Located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville, Maryville College offers nearly 1,200  students from around the world both the beauty of a rural setting and the advantages of an urban center, as well as more than 60 majors, seven pre-professional programs and career preparation from their first day on campus to their last. Today, our 10,000 alumni are living life strong of mind and brave of heart and are prepared, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.”