Sunday, November 5, 2017 - 7:30pm

5625 Holy Trinity Drive Melbourne, FL 32940


FREE CONCERT - Suggested donation of $20

Melbourne Community Orchestra
Indialantic Chamber Singers
Melbourne Municipal Band
Brevard Chorale
Quartet Movement
Space Coast Highlanders
Swingtime Jazz Band
Wounded Warrior Project

Celebrate Veterans with your Space Coast Symphony and friends!   This unprecedented concert will feature music that honors the men and women who have served in the United States Armed Forces.   This FREE Prism concert features over 300 musicians from the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra, the Melbourne Community Orchestra, the Indialantic Chamber Singers, Melbourne Municipal Band, Quartet Movement, Space Coast Highlanders the Brevard Chorale, and Swingtime Jazz Band.   Proceeds go towards the Wounded Warrior Project and other local Veteran charities.

Concert is sold out.  Call (855) 252-7276 to be added to waiting list.

Artist Information


The Melbourne Community Orchestra was originally formed in 1989 as a string education group which quickly grew into a community orchestra. The orchestra operated as an affiliate of the Space Coast Pops from 1991 through 2008 when the orchestra filed articles of incorporation as an individual 501C3.

Through the years we have been fortunate to have had several capable and talented conductors.  Our first conductor was Claire Christy who conducted the orchestra from its inception in 1989 until February, 2000 and now acts as Conductor Emeritus.  Mr. Christy has conducted and played trumpet for many orchestras and was a member of the United States Army Band.  Our next conductor was Witold Dobrzynski, and he conducted our orchestra from 2000 until 2010. Under his baton, the orchestra grew to approximately 45 members and developed complete orchestral instrumentation.  Our most recent conductor was Aaron Collins, from 2010 to 2016.  Under his able baton, the orchestra members have grown as musicians and the group has expanded it’s repertoire. He also conducts numerous other groups, including the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra, and is an award winning composer.  Our current conductor is Mark Nelson, as of October 2016.

Orchestra members are volunteers from Brevard and Indian River counties and include professional, retired professional, amateur, college and high school musicians.  Many concerts also feature solo performers and guest groups.

Our typical concert season runs from September through June and features seven programs with each program presented multiple evenings.  Our venue is the Melbourne Auditorium.  Our repertoire includes classical, pops, show tunes, motion picture music, and opera.  All concerts are free, and no tickets are required.

The MCO operates on an austere budget.  Our only support comes from donations and small grants from the City of Melbourne and Brevard County.

The Indialantic Chamber Singers is the premier vocal ensemble of Brevard Country, Florida.  Our quality ensemble has been a presence in Brevard and beyond since 1999. We are a professional quality, auditioned group comprised of degreed musicians, choral arts professionals and experienced vocalists.  ICS performs a variety of accompanied and a cappella works in many traditions, including sacred, traditional and contemporary.

For more than 50 years, the Melbourne Municipal Band (MMB) has performed an exciting variety of musical concerts. The MMB concert band and Swingtime, our 20-piece Big Band, perform popular tunes, themes from Broadway and Hollywood, patriotic songs and marches, classical music, and Big Band swing selections. These concerts are scheduled every month at the Melbourne Auditorium, 625 E. Hibiscus Boulevard. Admission is free and tickets are not required. One-third of our members are professional musicians and music educators. Many of them are alumni of top military bands and nationally known musical groups.

In addition to our full concert calendar, Swingtime provides several dances every year, also at the Melbourne Auditorium. The dances are popular events, appealing to experienced swing and ballroom dancers, as well as patrons who just want to listen to a 20-piece Big Band. Tickets are required, and may be purchased at our outlets for a nominal charge.

Also performing as part of the MMB family are our small ensembles: Swingtime Lite, Oh Golly Dixieland Band, Adagio Sax Quartet, Sunshine Brass Quintet, and the Mel-bones. These groups perform at various venues in the area throughout the year. You can read more about our small ensembles on our MMB for Hire page.The Symphonic Wind Ensemble, formed a few years ago by Col. Hal Gibson, plays two concerts per year at different venues around the county.

We are especially proud of our youth outreach and education initiatives. Each summer, during June and July, the MMB hosts the Summer Youth Band (SYB) Program, whose membership has grown to more than 100 students from grades 6 to 12. Rehearsals, workshops and individual instruction are conducted by volunteer MMB members. The SYB program culminates with a “graduation” concert at the Melbourne Auditorium. Also, in September, players from the Intermediate Band join the MMB on stage for its regular concert.

MMB PING (Providing Instruments for the Next Generation) is another youth outreach program. PING accepts donations of unused musical instruments and money. The donations are passed on the Brevard Public Schools for use by students who would not otherwise be able to obtain an instrument.

The Brevard Chorale has been a community choral organization since 1965-1966 beginning under the direction of Thomas Whiteside. Since Dr. Whiteside's untimely death in 1981 the leadership has been passed on to a number of esteemed directors. Among them are Eldon Moen, Dr. Vernon Boushell, Mark Hanson, Claire Baggarly, Larry Boye and Mark Maslin. The current director, James Boyles, began directing the group in the Fall of 2008. The Fall of 2015 marks the 50th year for the Chorale that has performed well over 100 concerts in Brevard County and given thousands of local musicians the opportunity to use their talents for their own edification and the listening enjoyment of the local community. Throughout the fifty years the group has embarked on numerous tours to Europe during the summers as well as singing in Carnegie Hall on at least three occasions.

The Brevard Chorale consists of 50 to 75 members in four groups of singers. The Soprano and the Alto voices combined make forty members and the Tenor and Bass voices make the remaining balance of the Chorale.

In its fiftieth year an amazing twenty-five percent of the current Chorale Membership have sung with this organization for twenty plus years. In fact, some have sung with every director. The consistency of membership is one of the reasons the Brevard Chorale has maintained a high degree of performance excellence for half a century.

The Space Coast Flute Choir was founded by Nancy Clew-Eller in 1983.  Initially there were twelve members, and under Nancy's direction, the ensemble has grown to its  present size of 40 flutists and performs regularly to a growing audience.

Over the years, literature for flute ensembles has greatly expanded and now incorporates many instruments of the flute family.  Flute orchestras today are similar to what string orchestras were 150 years ago.  Where string orchestras include basses, cellos, violas and violins; flute orchestras include piccolos, e-flat flutes, altos, basses, contrabasses, and double contrabass flutes.  It is these members of the flute family that add color and warmth to the standard, more common C-flute ensemble.

As the Space Coast Flute Choir grew and added these instruments, it was more accurately an orchestra, so in 2001 the group changed its name to The Space Coast Flute Orchestra.

Many members of the orchestra are active in other musical groups in the area, including the Brevard Symphony Orchestra,  The Space Coast Symphony Orchestra, The Melbourne Community Orchestra, Central Florida Winds,  The Community Band of Brevard and The Melbourne Municipal Band.