The fall concert by the Georgia Tech Symphonic Band will be held 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 6, in the Robert Ferst Center for the Arts, 349 Ferst Drive NW. General admission is $5 and free for students.

The program includes "Festival Overture on the 'The Star Spangled Banner'" by Dudley Buck; "Walking Tune" by Percy Grainger; "Pavanne from Symphonette No. 2" by Morton Gould; "Suite Francaise" by Darius Milhaud; "First Suite in Eb" by Gustav Holst; and "Rolling Thunder" by Henry Fillmore.

The Georgia Tech Symphonic Band consists of 55 musicians this fall, including graduate and undergraduate students from programs throughout the Institute.

"Many of these talented students have been involved in band since the sixth grade and have numerous accolades and awards to their credit," said Assistant Professor Andrea Strauss, director of bands at Georgia Tech and conductor of the Symphonic Band.

"Most of these accomplished musicians attended All-State and District Honor Bands in high school and are from nationally acclaimed high-school band programs, including Lassiter High School in Marietta, Ga., and Westlake High School in Austin, Texas," Strauss said.

The fall selections by the Symphonic Band include classic British, French and American wind band literature. For example, "Suite Francaise" -- composed in 1945 by Darius Milhaud -- represents five French provences, the very ones in which American and Allied forces fought together with the French underground for the liberation of France during World War II.

Strauss said Milhaud used folksongs from these provences so that Americans could hear the popular melodies of those parts of France where their grandfathers, fathers, uncles and brothers fought, on behalf of the peaceful people from these regions.

"The repertoire that we will be performing represents some of the best literature ever written for wind band," she said. "The compositional expertise of these renowned composers coupled with a quality musical performance will make for a very enjoyable evening."