U.S. Navy band brings voice of the inauguration to Lipscomb stage Feb. 19

Click here for ticket information

 

When the United States Navy Band sets up to perform at Lipscomb University on Thursday, Feb. 19, they will bring more than the 55 brass, woodwind and percussion musicians in the band; they will also bring the voice of the recent Presidential Inauguration.

 

Courtney Williams, a Greenbrier, Tenn., native who serves as narrator for the band, has the voice the world heard on Jan. 20 announcing America’s new President Barack Obama. Williams can be heard in person in Nashville on Feb. 19, when the U.S. Navy Band performs at 7:30 p.m. in the Willard Collins Alumni Auditorium on Lipscomb University’s Nashville campus.

 

Before the inauguration, Williams practiced and fretted over just the right amount of time to pause before announcing “Barack Obama” to the millions of people gathered in the Washington D.C. Mall. After the ceremony, he was pleased with the results, he said. “Even though I was inside, the roar of the crowd when I announced his name was unbelievable! I think it came out well,” he said.

 

At the Lipscomb performance, Williams will be back to his regular job presenting the program notes for the concert band and performing dramatic interpretations of “Ol' Man River” from Show Boat or “Hero for Today.”

 

Recognized as “The World's Finest,” the Navy Band features some of the nation’s top musicians and performs a wide variety of music ranging from classical orchestral works to original arrangements of current popular favorites, as well as traditional marches and patriotic fare.

 

Williams studied voice at the University of Tennessee and Vanderbilt University. He joined the Sea Chanters, the choral branch of the U.S. Navy Band, in 1996 and became the concert band narrator in 2004. As a member of the Sea Chanters, Williams performed at the White House, at memorial services for the victims of the USS Cole, and the “United in Memory” memorial service at the Pentagon in 2001.

 

He also served as announcer at the dedication of former president Bill Clinton’s library in 2004.

 

The Jan. 20 ceremony was his first inauguration. “My biggest concern was making sure I didn’t mispronounce anybody’s name,” which took all five rehearsals to work out before the event, he said.

 

After he announced the President-elect on inauguration day, he was able to go back to the command post and relax. As he looked out over the crowd during Obama’s speech, he saw flashbulbs flickering all the way back to the Washington Monument, and he couldn’t help but wonder what the people so far away were taking photos of.

 

Probably the only taste of the inauguration the audience on Feb. 19 will get is hearing Williams intone, “Ladies and gentlemen….” he said, but they will get to hear the Navy's premier musical organization, in existence since 1925. The Band has participated in 20 presidential inaugurals and often appears at national dedications and memorial services, recently playing a vital role in the State Funerals for Presidents Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford.

 

Other Tennessee locals in the band include Bryce A. Edwards, from Murfreesboro, on euphonium, and R. Scott Alexander, from McKenzie, on oboe.

 

Tickets for the performance are free, but should be obtained in advance to guarantee that a seat will be available. To purchase tickets contact Karie Duke at 615.966.7077 or karie.duke@lipscomb.edu or pick up tickets in person at the Allen Arena Box Office on the Lipscomb campus. Ticket-holders should plan to be seated by 7:15 p.m., as walk-ins will be seated beginning at that time given space availability.