WARREN — The W.D. Packard Concert plays its first concert of 2025 on Sunday, the first of more than 20 performances this year by the full band and its affiliated groups.

Thomas Groth, executive director of the band, said that is comparable to the number of shows in recent years, but there are a few changes.

In the past, the Packard Dixieland Band played a Mardi Gras party at the National Packard Museum. It doesn’t have the space to host the event this year, so the band will bring the festivities to Packard Music Hall with music from 7 to 9 p.m. March 4.

The band also will celebrate its 70th anniversary in October. Details still are being finalized for how the band plans to mark the occasion, Groth said.

There will be plenty of music before that celebration.

“Of course we’ll have our concerts with conductor Galen Karriker, and we have some guest conductors coming in,” Groth said. “In February we have a trumpet player from the United States Marine Band who is going to solo with Packard, and in March we have a traveling handbell choir that’s going to play with the Packard band.”

The April concert will feature a performance by the Robert E. Fleming Concerto Competition winner, and it will be conducted by Austintown native Christopher Cicconi, the new conductor of the Warren Philharmonic Orchestra. He will conduct the WPO’s second concert of the season on Saturday, April 26, and then join the Packard Band the following afternoon.

“We’re planning a few surprises for the Fourth of July concert that I think people will like, and I’m trying to line up some new things for our Christmas concert already,” Groth said.

For Sunday’s concert, Karriker will lead the band in a program featuring “Auld Lang Syne,” Nicholas Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Procession of Nobles,” “Be Thou My Vision,” Fred Jewel’s E Pluribus Unum” march, Morton Gould’s “Pavanne” from Symphonette No. 2, John Philip Sousa’s “The Diplomat” march, Ronald Lo Presti’s “Elegy for a Young American,” J.W. Howe’s and W. Steffe’s “Battle Hymn 2000,” Thomas Knox’s “God of Our Fathers,” Ryan Nowlin’s “Let Freedom Ring” and Henry Fillmore’s “The President’s March.”

2025 W.D. Packard Concert Band and affiliated bands schedule

Feb. 9 — W.D. Packard Concert Band at 3 p.m.

Feb. 13 — Valentine Dance with Big Band Sound of Packard from 7 to 9 p.m.

April 10 — Jazz Appreciation Month Jazz Festival with Big Band Sound of Packard and invited high school ensembles at 6 p.m.

March 4 — Mardi Gras at the Music Hall from 7 to 9 p.m.

March 16 — W.D. Packard Concert Band at 3 p.m.

April 27 — W.D. Packard Concert Band at 3 p.m.

May 25 — W.D. Packard Concert Band Memorial Day Concert at 3 p.m.

June 8 — W.D. Packard Concert Band at 7 p.m.

June 22 — W.D. Packard Concert Band at 7 p.m.

July 4 — W.D. Packard Concert Band Fourth of July Spectacular at 8 p.m.

July 13 — Big Band Sound of Packard at 7 p.m.

July 20 — W.D. Packard Concert Band at 7 p.m.

July 26 — Packard Dixieland Band at Corvettes & Classics Car Show, National Packard Museum, at noon

Aug. 3 — W.D. Packard Concert Band at 7 p.m.

Aug. 17 — W.D. Packard Concert Band at 7 p.m.

Sept. 14 — W.D. Packard Concert Band at 3 p.m.

Oct. 12 — W.D. Packard Concert Band 70th anniversary concert at 3 p.m.

Oct. 16 — Sweetest Day Dance with Big Band Sound of Packard from 7 to 9 p.m.

Nov. 9 — W.D. Packard Concert Band Veteran’s Day concert at 3 p.m.

Dec. 7 — W.D. Packard Concert Band Christmas Concert at 2 p.m.

Dec. 14 — Jingle Bell Swing with Big Band Sound of Packard and vocalist Helen Welch at 2 p.m.

All performances are at Packard Music Hall unless specified otherwise. Concerts in June, July and August take place outdoors at the music hall’s south lawn band shell.

If you go …

WHAT: “Let Freedom Ring” — W.D. Packard Concert Band with Galen D. Karriker, conductor

WHEN: 3 p.m. Sunday

WHERE: Packard Music Hall, 1703 Mahoning Ave NW, Warren

HOW MUCH: Admission is free, and funding is provided by the W.D. Packard Trust.