NMSA Senior Maggie King
ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL
By Kathaleen Roberts / Journal Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: Sunday, May 17, 2015 at 12:02 am
In the years before his death, Roger Melone’s father used to fly in from Oklahoma to hear his son conduct the servicemen’s medley with the New Mexico Philharmonic.
Melone’s father, a World War II veteran, died three years ago.
“It becomes quite emotional for both the orchestra and me,” he said. “It is touching. Very few veterans are alive from World War II.”
Melone will lead a patriotic Memorial Day weekend salute in the Philharmonic’s final concert this season at the Rio Grande Zoo on Saturday.
The musicians will include the winners of the Music Guild of New Mexico’s Jackie McGehee Young Artists’ Competition for Piano and Strings.
Desert Willow Family School eighth-grader Ishan Loomba is the first-place winner in the piano division of the contest.
Santa Fe’s Maggie King, a New Mexico School for the Arts junior, is the second-place winner in the strings category.
Melone hand-picked the music for the program, from the great Sousa marches to Tchaikovsy’s classic “1812 Overture.”
“Obviously, military songs bring up all kinds of patriotic fervor,” he said. “We wanted to make it a time when we honor the departed, but also the people in the audience serving today.”
The final military medley incorporates “From the Halls of Montezuma,” “Off We Go Into the Wild Blue Yonder,” “Anchors Away” and “The Cassions Go Rolling Along.”
“We have an absolutely gorgeous arrangement of ‘America the Beautiful,’” Melone added.
“Americana” is an arrangement of American folk tunes by former Philadelphia Orchestra conductor Arthur Harris.
The music features “Shenandoah” and hints of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” Melone said.
“I enjoy the fact that we can have different opinions on individual issues, but we don’t take that out on the servicemen,” Melone said, alluding to the divisions of the Vietnam War.
“We owe a great deal to the ladies and gentlemen who have served.”