UMaine grad to solo on BSO tour

BUCKSPORT – Alan Bailey of Bucksport will sing “America the Beautiful” during the Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s tour in Bucksport. Music director and conductor Xiao-Lu Li will lead the BSO in a concert featuring Thomas Oboe Lee’s Symphony No. 6: “The Penobscot River” at 3 p.m. Sunday, June 26, at Bucksport Middle School Auditorium.

Alan Bailey, a baritone, is a recent graduate of the University of Maine with a degree in vocal music performance. He has performed locally in many staged productions of theater, musical comedy and opera.

He recently performed in the Bucksport Community Theater production of “The Music Man” in the role of Harold Hill and in the UMaine Opera Workshop’s “Don Giovanni” in the title role. Bailey teaches voice locally and was the director of theater at Bucksport High School this past year. In the coming year, he will study with Dr. James McDonald at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.

“The Penobscot River” symphony, which the BSO first premiered at a free concert in Bangor on Oct. 23, 2004, features the Bangor High School Chorus, directed by George Redman. In addition to performing choral excerpts of “The Penobscot River,” the BSO will perform audience favorites, including selections from Broadway and movies, and patriotic music.

“The Penobscot River” is a commissioned piece that reminisces about past days on the Penobscot. The choral text is adapted from works by Thoreau, Fanny Hardy Eckstorm, John Greenleaf Whittier and others.

Composer-in-Residence Thomas Oboe Lee worked with Willy Kelly’s band students on May 24 at Bucksport Middle School. Lee will return for the tour with the BSO in June.

Advance tickets are $10, $8 seniors, $5 youth under 18, and $30 family maximum. They may be reserved at the Bangor Symphony Orchestra box office, 51A Main St., 942-5555, (800) 639-3221; and Bookstacks in Bucksport. More information is available at bangorsymphony.com.