The Belmont Middle High School Marching Band will kick off the Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Angels game in Boston with the national anthem Sept. 8.
This will be the Marching Marauders’ first time performing at Fenway Park, said director Allison Lacasse. In May, the Chenery Upper Elementary School chorus also sang the national anthem at Fenway for the second year in a row.
“They’re excited, but it’s really going to start to feel real this week when we start rehearsing in school,” Lacasse said.
The performance not only kicks off the school year, but offers a chance to find and build community for Belmont residents across the board, she added.
“Everybody can just be in the ballpark together and bond and make some new friends and just make some new memories,” she said.
The band is made up of seventh- through twelfth-grade students and performs at football games and concerts during the school year. When they were told about the chance to perform at Fenway, Lacasse said the students’ “eyes widened” and rehearsals became imbued with a new sense of excitement.
“They rehearse really well, and they do treat this piece of music with reverence and respect,” she said. “We try to make sure that we maintain the importance of it, whether we’re playing it for two people or 30,000 people.”
This year, University of Massachusetts Amherst student Nick LaCava will be joining Lacasse as a student teacher and serving as the assistant percussion director for the band. LaCava has performed at Fenway as part of a band previously, and described the experience as a “pivotal experience” in his music career.
“After spending a couple days with the students at band camp, I can say I’m super, super confident that they’re going to do a great job,” LaCava said. “They’re so excited.”
The Marching Marauders had its first performance of its field show “Hope” on Aug. 31. The show features three Broadway songs from “Hamilton,” “Dear Evan Hansen,” and “Wicked.”
“We wanted to offer a musical menu of songs that inspire people, that inspire students to be the best version of themselves, to be their authentic selves, and to just constantly have a theme of optimism and unity,” Lacasse said.
