PHOTO PROVIDED This year’s Liberty Classic Community Band Festival will bring more than 100 nationwide performers under the baton of conductor Anthony J. Maiello.

WILLIAMSPORT — On the weekend of Oct. 10-12, the Liberty Classic Community Band Festival will continue its tradition of gathering musicians from all across America to play a free concert in Williamsport.

Initiated in 2010, the festival is sponsored by Williamsport’s world-famous Repasz Band. This year, it brings together more than 100 nationwide performers under the baton of distinguished conductor Anthony J. Maiello.

The group rehearses Friday night and all day Saturday, followed by an evening banquet at the Genetti Hotel. After a final dress rehearsal Sunday morning, the Liberty ensemble offers a free 1:30 p.m. concert that day in the auditorium at Williamsport Area High School.

Long-time fans and attenders should note that this venue is a change from previous Liberty concerts!

According to Repasz Business Manager and Liberty organizer Judy Shellenberger, this year’s exciting program includes three tunes chosen to honor veterans by celebrating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

These include “The Homefront,” a medley of popular hits from that era such as “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree,” “I’ll Be Seeing You” and “White Cliffs of Dover” — plus the wartime staple, “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition.”

The other two special selections are “633 Squadron,” from the soundtrack of a 1964 film about British fighter-bombers, and Bryan Kidd’s “Turning Point” — commissioned in 2002 by the U.S. Navy to honor the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Midway. Kidd, retired chief composer and arranger for the U.S. Navy Band, will be at Sunday’s Liberty concert to narrate his own composition.

The musical program for that day also includes Steve Reineke’s “Celebration Fanfare,” which will serve as the show’s opener; “Air,” from Handel’s opera “Rinaldo”; Randall Standridge’s “Choose Joy,” incorporating Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” and written in 2022 to honor a high school student struggling with terminal cancer; the beloved Navy hymn “Eternal Father, Strong to Save”; the 1953 jazz standard “Here’s That Rainy Day,” covered by such artists as Bill Evans and Chet Baker; and — in keeping with the tradition of at least one tune with the festival’s name in its title — Arthur Pryor’s lesser-known march “Liberty Hall.”

One highlight of Sunday’s concert is “Polka Time Pizzazz,” incorporating “Beer Barrel Polka,” “Clarinet Polka” and of course, “Pennsylvania Polka.” Specially arranged by Kidd for this show, it will feature soloists Maiello, on the accordion, and his long-time friend Dr. Anthony Woy on the clarinet.

“Both men were music colleagues at the Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam, and have been close friends for 53 years,” said Shellenberger.

Maiello, who returns for his second time leading Liberty, is a retired professor of music at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. Having conducted at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y., Maiello continues to make professional appearances both nationally and abroad, conducting music festivals, adjudicating ensembles and presenting clinics, lectures and workshops throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas and Europe. He also serves as a guest clinician for Yamaha Corporation and Warner Brothers Publications. In March of 2010, Maiello was inducted into the Bands of America Hall of Fame.

Woy is professor emeritus at the Crane School, where he taught, coached and conducted from 1971-2007.

Sunday’s concert at Williamsport Area High School is free and open to the public.