Those attending the Free U.S. Navy Band Sea Chanters concert hosted by Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum Trust, Inc., will have the opportunity to see someone with special ties to our great city! Musician 1st Class Robert Kurth, a native of St. Clairsville, Ohio, joined the Sea Chanters in 2014. He earned his Bachelor of Music in music education from Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio, in 2003, and was the recipient of the Ferris and Dorothy Ohl Award. In 2008 he completed his Master of Music at Duquesne University, where he received the Phillip H. Inman Award in choral conducting.

The Navy Band Sea Chanters are the United States Navy’s official chorus. The ensemble performs a variety of music including traditional choral music, sea chanteys, patriotic fare, opera, Broadway and contemporary music. The Sea Chanters regularly perform for the public in the Washington, D.C., area and throughout the United States while on national tours. At home in Washington, they perform for the president, vice president and numerous congressional, military and foreign dignitaries. In 1956, Lt. Harold Fultz, then the band’s assistant leader, organized a vocal group from the Navy School of Music to sing chanteys and patriotic songs for the State of the Nation dinner. Recognizing the ensemble’s immediate success, Adm. Arleigh Burke, then Chief of Naval Operations, transferred the group to the Navy Band, named them the Sea Chanters and tasked this all-male chorus with perpetuating the songs of the sea. In 1980, the group added women to its ranks and expanded its repertoire to include everything from Brahms to Broadway.