Alum Fred Lemmons will return to campus to perform at the UTC Fine Arts Center’s Roland Hayes Concert Hall. Photo courtesy of Fred Lemmons.
A University of Tennessee at Chattanooga music alumnus whose career includes 21 years with “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band will return to campus Sunday, March 8, for a 3 p.m. EDT performance at the UTC Fine Arts Center’s Roland Hayes Concert Hall.
Master Gunnery Sergeant Fred Lemmons, USMC (Retired), a 1982 UTC graduate with a bachelor’s degree in music education, will be a featured soloist for “An Afternoon of Music” by the Mid-South Symphonic Band. Lemmons will perform “Introduction, Theme, and Variations” by Gioacchino Rossini, followed by an encore designed to surprise the audience. “I know it will be a crowd pleaser,” he said with a laugh.
Lemmons will also conduct John Philip Sousa’s “The Washington Post March” during the event.
Tickets are free and available online by clicking here.
The Mid-South Symphonic Band concert will feature classical works, contemporary selections, jazz-inspired pieces and marches, highlighting both the ensemble and its guest soloist.
The performance brings Lemmons back to the same campus where he once balanced a full course load with performances in as many as six ensembles a semester.
A Chattanooga native, he served from 1988 to 2009 as Operations Chief and clarinetist with “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band in Washington, D.C. During his tenure, he performed at the White House for five U.S. presidents and traveled the country for hundreds of concerts.
He later taught clarinet at Mars Hill University in North Carolina while performing with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra, the Asheville Lyric Opera and the Brevard Philharmonic Orchestra. He now lives in Vermont and performs with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra.
For Lemmons, the return to UTC represents a chance to reconnect with the campus where his career took shape.
“I had a well-rounded education at Chattanooga,” he said. “Among the classes I took were band arranging, conducting, music theory, music history and physics for musicians. There were great professors at Chattanooga.”
After graduating from Brainerd High School in 1975, Lemmons enrolled at UTC on a scholarship and quickly became immersed in campus ensembles. He auditioned for and performed in the wind ensemble, orchestra, two jazz bands, the marching band and a woodwind quintet.
“I was the first chair clarinet player at Chattanooga in the wind ensemble and the orchestra,” he said, “and then they found out I could play saxophone. So I started playing in two jazz bands at Chattanooga.”
He also taught music at Boyd Buchanan School—from elementary through high school—while completing his UTC degree as a part-time student.
“That’s what I did in Chattanooga,” he said. “Just being a musician, trying to be better, and being around great players. And, of course, observing and learning.”
Among those who influenced him were UTC band directors Barry Jones and Tony D’Andrea, music faculty member Pete Temko and Chattanooga Symphony concertmaster Don Zimmer. His main influence was his clarinet teacher, Jay Craven. “I was his student from the 9th grade through my undergrad at UTC. His musical guidance and expertise cannot be overstated.”
After earning his master’s degree at Louisiana State University and completing doctoral work, Lemmons auditioned in 1988 for “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band.
“The day I went, there were 85 clarinet players there and 50 of them already had a doctorate,” he said. “Luckily, I did get that job, and I served 21 years in the Marine Band in Washington, D.C.”
After 10 years with the band, he spent 11 years as Operations Chief. The position required him to step away from regular performing for nearly a decade while managing personnel, logistics, daily operations and White House events for the nation’s premier military band.
Lemmons’ return to his alma mater began with his connection to Mid-South Symphonic Band trumpet player Dr. Terry Major, a retired dentist and fellow Brainerd High School and UTC alumnus.
The two played together in the band at Brainerd and UTC, staying in touch as their careers evolved.
Though his résumé includes performances for presidents and national tours, Lemmons traces his musical path back to a childhood concert in Chattanooga.
“My grandmother, Myrtle Martin, raised me,” he said. “When I was in elementary school, our 5th-grade class went to hear the Chattanooga Symphony for a children’s concert. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard, and it left me with a deep, peaceful feeling.”
He went home and made a decision.
“I have to be in the band now. I’ve got to be in the band,” he recalled.
His grandmother encouraged his practice and later heard him perform several times as a member of the Marine Band.
“She was one of a kind,” he said.
Now, decades after first walking the UTC campus as a music student, Lemmons returns to a familiar stage.
“I love Chattanooga,” he said. “It all started in Chattanooga.”
Fred (second from left) with Laura and George W. Bush.
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