The Allentown Band continues its 195th anniversary celebration with a double-header concerts weekend.

“Golden Silents: Safety Last,” 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28, Miller Symphony Hall, Allentown. premieres an original score composed by Steve Reisteter for the silent film.

“195th Anniversary Commissioned Works Concert,” 3 p.m. Oct. 29, which is free and open to the public at Christ Lutheran Church, Allentown, premieres a work by award-winning Whitehall Township native Gregory Fritze.

It’s the fourth time that the Allentown Band will accompany a silent film shown in Miller Symphony Hall, starting with “The Phantom of the Opera” in 2018 and continuing with “The General” in 2019 and “The Mark Of Zorro” in 2022, each time with an original score by Allentown Band Principal Clarinet Steve Reisteter.

“We chose Harold Lloyd’s ‘Safety Last’ because it’s the 100th anniversary of this 1923 classic romantic comedy silent film,” says Allentown Band Conductor Ronald Demkee.

“Steve’s original score captures the mood and action on the screen perfectly,” says Demkee.

In the Hal Roach-produced “Safety Last,” which is set in New York City, a small-town boy seeks to impress his girlfriend by scaling a skyscraper which provides the most memorable scene in the film: the leading actor, Harold Lloyd, hanging desperately from the hands of a skyscraper clock.

“‘Safety Last’ was made in 1922 and released in 1923 and is supposed to be set in those years,” says Reisteter.

“It’s an old film that was contemporary at the time of its release and the music is reflective of that period.

“I also wanted the music to suggest that, even though numerous obstacles were thrown in his way, Lloyd’s character truly believed that he would ultimately succeed,” Reisteter says.

“‘Safety Last’ premiered the same year that the Marx Brothers performed on stage at the Lyric Theatre and, of course, they would go on to stardom in the early days of talkie films,” says Al Jacobsen, Allentown Symphony Association Executive Director.

“So many silent films are a treasure and it is wonderful to bring them back to life on the Miller Symphony Hall stage,” Jacobsen says.

“The Lyric Theatre, as the Hall was then known, primarily presented stage shows and concerts during the silent film era,” continues Jacobsen.

“However, it also showed films from time to time, most notably for troops stationed at nearby Camp Crane during World War I.”

The Allentown Fairgrounds was converted to Camp Crane, a World War I United States Army Ambulance Service training camp, 1917-1919.

“It’s great to work with the Allentown Band and celebrate these connections between early film and Miller Symphony Hall,” Jacobsen says.

For a commemorative work to celebrate the Allentown Band’s 195th anniversary as the oldest civilian band in the United States, Demkee turned to fellow Whitehall native Gregory Fritze, a prize-winning composer and Fulbright Scholar.

“In writing this work, ‘Celebration,’ to think 195 years, no other band has lasted this long in the U.S.,” says Fritze.

“The piece is multi-faceted and highlights the different sections of the concert band,” Fritze says.

The Whitehall High School graduate continues, “As a kid in the Lehigh Valley, I played in jazz bands at West Park [Allentown], so there’s also a bit of jazz in this piece.”

Fritze has received more than 70 composition awards, including First Prize, 2022 American Prize in Composition, Pops Division; First Prize, Concurso Bienal de Composicion de Musica para Banda, Ciudad de Sant Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, and annual ASCAP awards.

Fritze retired from Berklee College of Music, Boston, where he was Professor and Chair of Composition, Tuba instructor and Wind Ensemble Conductor.

Fritze was Principal Tuba, Rhode Island Philharmonic, and has performed with the Boston Ballet Orchestra, Itzhak Perlman, Ray Charles, Victor Borge and Henry Mancini.

Says Fritze, “I look forward to being back in the Lehigh Valley and meeting with folks after the concert.”

The Oct. 29 concert opens with William Pryun’s “Allentown Band Sesquicentennial March,” which celebrated the band’s 150th anniversary; followed by three works commemorating the band’s 175th anniversary, “Coventry,” by Francis McBeth; “175 Years Young,” by Bernard Ebbinghouse, and Steve Reisteter’s “Divertimento for Band.”

For the band’s 190th anniversary, world-renowned composer Johan de Meij wrote “Pennsylvania Faux Songs,” a set of five works, including “Punxsutawney Ground Hog Waltz” and “Allentown Jig,” which the band has performed in the Lehigh Valley and Carnegie Hall.

After the concert, there’s an Oktoberfest dinner in the church. For dinner tickets: church office, Christ Lutheran Church, 1245 Hamilton St., Allentown; 610-433-4271; www.christ-atown.org

“Golden Silents: Safety Last,” 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28, Miller Symphony Hall, 23 N. Sixth St., Allentown; Tickets: Miller Symphony Hall box office, 610-432-6715, https://www.millersymphonyhall.org

“195th Anniversary: Commissioned Works Concert, 3 p.m. Oct. 29, Christ Lutheran Church, 1245 Hamilton St., Allentown; free, donations accepted, https://allentownband.com

“Classical View” is a column about classical music concerts, conductors and performers. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com