Epic Film Music Band Concert

Valparaiso University Department of Music and the Valparaiso High School Department of Music will present Flights of Fancy, a concert of epic film music, on Saturday, January 31, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. in the Chapel of the Resurrection on the Valparaiso University campus.

Now in its fourteenth year, this much-anticipated collaboration brings together the Valparaiso University Chamber Concert Band with the Valparaiso High School Wind Ensemble and Freshman Concert Band for an evening of soaring, cinematic music inspired by flight and adventure. The concert highlights the expressive power of film music and its role in storytelling, imagination, and shared musical experience.

Under the direction of Jeffrey Scott Doebler ’87 (Valparaiso University) and Valparaiso High School conductors Sarah DeRossi Kelly ’13, Kyle Miller, and Miguel Rosario, the program features music by John Williams, Howard Shore, Henry Mancini, John Powell, Ron Goodwin, and Mark Mancina, alongside works by Antonio Vivaldi, John Philip Sousa, and Quincy Hilliard. Selections include themes from Schindler’s List, The Aviator, Pan, Planes, and Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, culminating in a thrilling suite celebrating aviation and cinematic imagination.

Featured soloists include violinist Diego Piedra and piccolo trumpet soloists Charles Steck ’84, ’92 and Ryan Rabe.

The annual Epic Film Music Concert has become a signature event for the Valparaiso community, offering audiences an opportunity to experience powerful film scores in a live concert setting while modeling music education in action through collaboration between university and secondary students.