Glenn Miller Orchestra to perform at NPCC

The Glenn Miller Orchestra will perform Oct. 1 at the McDonald-Belton Theater on the North Platte Community College South Campus, 601 W State Farm Rd.

Beginning at 6:40 p.m., the Jazzy Knights will provide the preshow entertainment with the orchestra taking center stage at 7 p.m.

Tickets are available through the North Platte Business and Community Education office by calling (308) 535-3687. Admission is $35. There is a four-ticket limit per person. Tickets will not be sold at the door.

All are welcome following the performance to a reception in the fireplace area.

About the Glenn Miller Orchestra

With its unique jazz sound, the Glenn Miller Orchestra is considered to be one of the greatest bands of all time.

It is the most popular and sought after big band in the world for both concert and swing dance engagements. The present Glenn Miller Orchestra was formed in 1956 and has been touring around the globe ever since.

The fact that NPCC students will be part of the performance brings the orchestra full circle, as founder Glenn Miller got his musical start while in elementary school in North Platte in the early 1900s.

After his father brought home a mandolin one day, Miller promptly traded it for an old, battered horn, which he practiced every chance he got. The instrument would lead to a lifetime obsession with music for Miller, who would come to be known as the father of modern U.S. military bands.

His orchestra’s best-selling records include Miller’s theme song, “Moonlight Serenade,” and the first gold record ever made, “Chattanooga Choo Choo.”

In 1954, Miller was the subject of a partly fictionalized film biography, “The Glenn Miller Story,” starring James Stewart. Miller posthumously received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.