The Allentown Band’s “A Sousa Band Concert,” 3 p.m. Oct. 13, Miller Symphony Hall, Allentown, marks the 125th anniversary of Miller Symphony Hall and the concerts that John Philip Sousa and The Sousa Band performed there when it was The Lyric Theatre.

Says Allentown Band Conductor Ronald Demkee, “The Sousa Band performed there on four occasions, 1900, 1908, 1910, 1920. The Allentown Band will replicate a typical concert played by Sousa and his band during those years.”

In some ways, the concert and Sousa Era draws comparisons to The Beatles’ Paul McCartney and his Edwardian military band inspiration for “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” (May 1967), a concept album with a cover photo of the four mop tops in colorful band uniforms and a lead-off song with rock band in the guise of a fictional marching-style band.

The first sousaphone was built by James Welsh Pepper in 1893 at the request of John Philip Sousa, who was dissatisfied with the hélicons in use by the United States Marine Band. Some sources credit C.G. Conn with its construction because of the sousaphone that he built in 1898.

Sousa, “The March King,” was a conductor of the U.S. Marine Corps Band, best-known for “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” the national march of the United States, and “Semper Fidelis,” official march of the Marine Corps.

In addition to great music, guest moderator for “A Sousa Band Concert” is Sousa’s great-grandson John Philip Sousa IV, and on display in Miller Symphony Hall will be the original sousaphone.

Typical of a Sousa concert, attendees will enjoy instrumental solos, orchestral transcriptions, operatic excerpts and, of course, Sousa marches.

The concert opens with Frank Winterbottom’s arrangement of Mikhail Glinka’s Overture to the opera “Ruslan and Ludmilla” (1842). Based upon Alexander Pushkin’s 1820 epic poem, it tells of Ludmilla’s abduction by an evil sorcerer and Ruslan’s encounter of witches, hermits, magic castles, enchanted gardens and more as he saves, and ultimately marries, Ludmilla.

The encore march is Sousa’s “Hail to the Spirit of Liberty” (1900), written for Sousa’s first international engagement, the unveiling of the Lafayette Monument during the Paris Exposition of 1900.

Percy Grainger’s “Colonial Song” (1916-1918) is described by the composer as “an attempt to write a melody as typical of the Australian countryside as Stephen Foster’s exquisite songs are typical of rural America.” The encore piece is Sousa’s arrangement of Grainger’s “Country Gardens” (1918).

Returning guest mezzo-soprano Patricia Risley joins the band in a performance of “Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix” (“Softly awakes my heart”) from Camille Saint-Saëns’ grand opera “Samson and Delilah” (1877), followed by Sousa’s humorous song “I’ve Made My Plans for the Summer” (1907), composed at the request of a proprietor of the Coney Island Amusement Park in New York.

The next three selections display Sousa’s proficiency in composing popular dance music: “La Reina de la Mer Waltzes” (“Queen of the Sea Waltzes,” 1886), dedicated to the wife of then U.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney; “Peaches and Cream Fox Trot” (1924), and “The Gliding Girl Tango” (1912), a suggestion proffered by Sousa’s daughter Priscilla.

The concert’s first-half concludes with renowned guest trombone soloist Scott Shelsta in performance of the virtuosic “Air Varie,” penned by Sousa’s trombone soloist Arthur Pryor (1869-1942). The technically- demanding showpiece finds the soloist utilizing the full musical range of the instrument, be it through octave jumps, scale passages or sheer volume of notes. The encore selection is a beautiful arrangement of “O Dry Those Tears” (1901) by English composer Teresa del Riego (1876-1968).

After intermission, or in Sousa’s vernacular “Interval,” the band performs selections from Sousa’s operetta “El Capitan” (1895). The encore “El Capitan March” held great significance for Sousa. The march was played by The Sousa Band, augmented to more than 100 men at Sousa’s personal expense, as they led Admiral Dewey’s Spanish-American War victory parade in New York City on Sept. 30, 1899.

Allentown Band xylophonist Craig Mandelbaum is featured soloist in Steve Reisteter’s arrangement of Johannes Brahms’ “Hungarian Dance No. 5” (1869) with an encore selection, “Xylophonia,” composed by Sousa Band xylophonist Joe Green (1892-1939).

The remaining concert selections are from popular operas: the Lucien Cailliet arrangement of waltzes from Richard Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier” (1910), J.J. Richard’s selections from Umberto Giordano’s “Andrea Chènier” (1895), and M.C. Meyrelles’ popular arrangement of the “Finale” from the “William Tell Overture” extracted from Gioachino Rossini’s opera “William Tell” (1829).

The program concludes with John Philip Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever” (1896). Sousa once explained there are three themes in the final trio which were meant to typify the three sections of the United States. The broad melody, or main theme, represents the North. The South is represented by the piccolo obbligato, and the West by the bold countermelody of the trombones.

Guest moderator John Philip Sousa IV was the first civilian to have “conducted” the United States Marine Corps Band at age 11 on the Capitol steps in Washington, D.C. He has narrated numerous Sousa and patriotic concerts around the U.S. where he shares stories of his great-grandfather’s music and life. Sousa IV also shares amusing anecdotes of what it is like to be the great-grandson of such an historic icon.

Following in the “March King’s” footsteps, Sousa IV served four years in the U.S. Air Force. As Honorary Chairman and Board Member of Enduring Freedom and Killed in Action Fund, Sousa IV helped raise and distribute more than $2 million for the families of those who have died in military service.

Sousa IV is an author who has found an artistic niche in painting.

Scott Shelsta, trombone soloist, is retired from “Pershing’s Own” The United States Army Band. He performed for U.S. presidents, from President Richard Nixon to President George W. Bush. One highlight of his military career was performing for the Interment of the Vietnam Unknown Soldier.

Born and raised in South Dakota, Shelsta’s trombone performance career began in fifth grade when he started playing for American Legion and patriotic occasions. He received a Bachelor’s from Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D., and a Master’s in Brasswind Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, Col.

Shelsta’s forte as a trombone solo artist features “Turn of the Century” style playing where solos are extremely demanding and seldom heard in public. He holds memberships with the International Trombone Association, the Ringgold Band of Reading, Brass Ensemble of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and the Interservice Trombone Choir of Washington, D.C. He was Principal Trombone, Washington Chamber Symphony, with annual concerts at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.

In 1892, John Philip Sousa conceived the idea of the sousaphone, which J.W. Pepper built in 1895. Intended solely as a concert instrument, Sousa preferred the sound of a sousaphone over a standard concert tuba for his band and by 1921 featured only sousaphones in his bass section.

A member of the tuba family, the sousaphone has tubing rearranged into a circular body that can be rested on the left shoulder. Prior to creation of the sousaphone, there was another shoulder-borne tuba called the helicon. The difference between the two instruments was that the helicon bell follows the coil of the body and points forward to the left while the sousaphone originally had a large bell that pointed straight up.

In 1908, C.G. Conn created a version of the sousaphone which had the large end of the bell make a 90-degree turn forward. Today, this is the only style of sousaphone still in use, most often by marching bands.

The discovery of the original sousaphone began with a tuba player’s curiosity. Dave Detwiler, a graduate of the Interlochen Center for the Arts, Interlochen, Mich., recalled the school’s claim of possessing the first sousaphone ever made. In viewing the instrument and discussion with the curator, the claim was inconclusive. Detwiler’s search continued.

In 1973, the original sousaphone was discovered and in 1991, J.W. Pepper regained ownership of the instrument, which was restored and given a lacquer finish. Characteristics of the instrument consist of a bore of 7.03 inches, bell diameter of 24 inches, height of four feet and five inches and weight of 24.9 pounds.

More than one century later, on May 4, 2015, Detwiler played the restored sousaphone in concert with the Montgomery County Community Band. The sousaphone is still owned by J.W. Pepper & Sons, founded by James Welsh Pepper 148 years ago in 1876 in Philadelphia and now a sheet music company in Exton, Montgomery County.

Detwiler has been a pastor for 35 years, now focusing on staff development at Lives Changed By Christ, a multi-site church in eastern Pennsylvania. He is a longtime tuba player who gets excited about the history of this often-maligned instrument, having published numerous articles on the history of the sousaphone, as well as subcontrabass tubas, in the ITEA Journal, British Bandsman and The Brass Herald.

He contributed the chapter, “From Gilmore to Sousa: How One Legendary Bandmaster Gave Rise to Another,” in the academic book, “Bands in American Musical History.

Detwiler’s research project is focused on John W. “Jack” Richardson, Sousa’s longest tenured tubist, who played sousaphone in The Sousa Band for 22 years. Richardson, born in Lancaster County, performed frequently as a guest artist with the Allentown Band.

“A Sousa Band Concert,” Allentown Band, 3 p.m. Oct. 13, Miller Symphony Hall, 23 N. Sixth St., Allentown. Half-price tickets for students aged 21 and under; Tickets: box office; 610-432-6715; https://www.millersymphonyhall.org

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