The Moore County Concert Band, under the direction of David Seiberling, will perform at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 25, in the Grand Ballroom of the Carolina Hotel. Lindsay Leach will be the guest soloist, performing on the flute. She will play Gabriel Faure's "Fantaisie" for solo flute and wind ensemble.

Seiberling has selected music that should both please the audience and challenge the musicians. The program will open with the third movement of John Phillip Sousa's "Looking Upward Suite -- Mars and Venus," and will include Leonard Bernstein's "America" from "West Side Story.

"At Dawn They Slept" was premiered at Pearl Harbor. This work is a musical remembrance of that fateful day that launched the United States into World War II. The piece opens in the days preceding the attack with a beautiful and flowing melody featuring the woodwinds. Dec. 7 begins with a lone distant bugler, but with ominous undertones foretelling the chaos to follow. The attack is depicted using texture, dissonance and percussion. In the final segment the opening melody returns juxtaposed over a strong rhythmic pulse in a hopeful look to the future.

"The piece is a powerful musical statement from one of today's most gifted composers, Jay Bocook," said Seiberling.

The band has made a tradition of honoring the military through music. George Washington established the U.S. Navy in 1775 with only three armed schooners. The Navy was promptly disbanded after the Revolutionary War ended and then was reestablished in 1797. The band will play "Anchors Aweigh," the official march of the United States Navy.

The Merchant Marine is not a uniformed military service. Merchant mariners move cargo and passengers between nations and within the United States. However, in time of war, in accordance with The Merchant Marine Act of 1936, they are considered military personnel. They do have their own official march, "Our Merchant Marine March," which the band will perform.

The concert will also include several other musical surprises.

For additional information, call 295-9023 or visit the band's Web site at www.moorecountyband.com. The band's next concert will be 5 p.m. Friday, July 4, in the Carolina Hotel's Grand Ballroom.