A Legend Lives On: Glenn Miller ­Orchestra Returns

The Broken Arrow Arts & Humanities Council will present its final presentation of the Encore Series by bringing the world-famous Glenn Miller Orchestra back to town on Sunday, March 14, 2010.

The Glenn Miller Orchestra returns to town on Sunday, March 14 at the new ­Broken Arrow Performing Arts Center.

Continuing a tradition of rich music and a legacy that keeps going, the Broken Arrow Arts & Humanities Council will present its final presentation of the Encore Series by bringing the world-famous Glenn Miller Orchestra back to town on Sunday, March 14, 2010.

The matinee show starts at 2 p.m. and will be held at the new Broken Arrow Performing Arts Center in downtown Broken Arrow, and is presented by AVB Bank, Windstream Communications and Public Service Company of Oklahoma.

Glenn Miller, the legendary bandleader and composer, was one of the most successful of all the bandleaders in the swing era of the 1930s and ’40s. After his death in 1944, the Glenn Miller sound continued to live on through the authorization of the Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1956. His legend has since lived on through many incarnations of the famous players.

“We are thrilled to close the Encore Series with the Glenn Miller Orchestra,” said Jo Ellen Clow, Encore Series chairman. “Audiences continue to love it and ask for it to come back year after year.”

Larry O’Brien, who first headed up the ensemble in 1981 and rejoined the group in 1988, leads the 19-member band. The trombone player had been involved with the band since the early ’60s under the leadership of Ray McKinley, who served with the original Glenn Miller Army Air Force band in Europe.

“Mostly we play the old songs,” said O’Brien. “We are careful to pick out standards with the idea of having something that will stay around for a while. I think the people who come to hear the Miller band come to hear ‘In the Mood’ as it was recorded.”

Tickets can be purchased online at www.thepacba.com, over the phone at (918) 259-5778 or in person at the new Broken Arrow Performing Arts Center box office, located at 81st and Main in downtown Broken Arrow. Tickets are $20 for all seats. Members of the Broken Arrow Arts & Humanities Council will receive a two-for-one special. Box office hours are Monday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m.

Title sponsor for the Encore Series is Servant Medical Imaging. The Arts Council is funded in part by the Oklahoma Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.

For more information about the show, tickets and the Broken Arrow Arts Council, visit our website at www.artsba.org, or call (918) 259-5716.

For more information, contact

Broken Arrow Arts & Humanities Council

(918) 259-5716

www.artsba.org