The Southeast Alabama Community Band concert under the direction of Dr. Johnny Long will be in concert at 7 p.m. Monday at the Claudia Crosby Theater on the campus of Troy University.

The concert is sponsored by the Troy Arts Council and is free and open to the public.

Dr. William Denison, TAC president and band member, said that CBS National News called the concert one of the best in the country.

“The band will play a variety of selections including classical overtures and great marches,” Denison said.

The program includes Tchaikovsky’s popular overture “Capriccio Italien.” The entire clarinet section will play “Dizzy Fingers,” a number that Benny Goodman made famous in the 1940s.

Guest conductors for the concert will be James Smith, associate conductor of the Southeast Community Band; Dr. Larry Blocher, director of the John M. Long School of Music; and Dr. Mark Walker, director of bands at Troy University.

“Woodwind virtuoso Ray Smith will be featured playing and singing the exciting Frank Sinatra, songs, ‘Summer Winds’ and ‘The Day of Wine and Roses,’” Long said. “If you have never heard Ray, you will be thrilled and, if you have, you know what to expect.”

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced on March 22, that Long had won the Kennedy Center/Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Award.

Only10 people in the United States were selected for the honor and Dr. Long was the only winner in the music category,” Denison said.

The award carried a $10,000 cash award.

The Kennedy Center/Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Award is one of the most prestigious awards in the United States.

“I am highly honored yet humbled by this award,” Long said.