Admission to the performance, sponsored by the College's Music Department, is free and open to the public.

Recognized as one of the nation's top military bands, the Army Ground Forces Band is stationed at Fort McPherson in Atlanta, Ga. In their role as musical ambassasors, the band conducts concert tours across the U.S., performing for more than one million people annually. Berea College is the final stop on the band's seven-stop spring tour in Indiana and Kentucky.

The program will include marches, orchestral transcriptions, and an instrumental solo performed by the Concert Band and several numbers performed by the Jazz Guardians. Concluding the program will be a multi-media tribute to veterans.

Major French, a Berea Community High School graduate and a former member of the Berea College-Community Band, entered the Army in 1978. He served for nine years as euphonium player and soloist with several Army bands and later was instructor at the Armed Forces School of Music in Norfolk, where he eventually became the school's Training Liaison Officer and Commander of the Staff and Faculty Company. Following his promotion to Captain in 1993, he served as Executive Officer of the U.S. Army, Europe Band and Chorus, and in 1997, he was assigned as Associate Bandmaster of the U.S. Army Field Band, Fort Meade Maryland. He was promoted to his present rank of Major in 1999.

Major French holds a master of music in conducting from Indiana University and a B.A. from St. Leo College in Florida. He is currently completing a doctor of musical arts degree in conducting from the University of Maryland-College Park.

The Jazz Guardians conductor is Sergeant. Major Joel L. Joyner. Before entering the Army in 1977, Sergeant Major Joyner earned a bachelor of education degree from Shaw University and served as a music educator and performing/recording artist in Quebec, Canada and in Europe. Executive Officer of the Band is Second Lieutenant Derrick N. Shaw.

The Army Ground Forces Band was organized more than 150 years ago as the Fourth Infantry Regiment Band on July 21, 1845 in New Orleans. The band's history includes service in the Mexican War, the Civil War, the War with Spain, the Philippine Insurrection and both World Wars. Its heritage includes 26 campaign streamers and the French Croix de Guerre with Guilt Star. is the only Army Band to receive a combat distinction from a U.S. President for its role in the battle of Monterey, Mexico in 1846.

Following World War II, the name of the Band was changed to the 214th Army Band and in 1985, the Secretary of the Army designated it the Army Ground Forces Band. The band represents and supports Forces Command, the largest specified command in the Army, responsible for combat readiness of all deployable ground forces in the continental U.S. Members of the band are selected through personal and highly competitive auditions.

Following the Band's performance, Major French and other band members will be available to discuss membership in the U.S. Army Band program with any interested persons.

The program is free and open to the public.