United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy (also known as USNA, Annapolis, or simply Navy) is a four-year coeducational federal service academy adjacent to Annapolis, Maryland. Established on 10 October 1845, under Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft, it is the second oldest of the United States' five service academies, and educates officers for commissioning primarily into the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. The campus is located on the former grounds of Fort Severn at the confluence of the Severn River and Chesapeake Bay in Anne Arundel County, east of Washington, D.C. and southeast of Baltimore. The entire campus (known to insiders as "the Yard") is a National Historic Landmark and home to many historic sites, buildings, and monuments. It replaced Philadelphia Naval Asylum, in Philadelphia, that served as the first United States Naval Academy from 1838 to 1845 when the Naval Academy formed in Annapolis.
Music of Annapolis
The United States Naval Academy Department of Musical Activities involves over one thousand midshipmen (students) who participate in a number of ensembles: Men’s and Women’s Glee Clubs, three Chapel Choirs, the Drum and Bugle Corps, Pipes and Drums ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, a music theatre program, and several smaller ensembles. Many of these groups tour extensively throughout America and abroad, performing in major concert halls and with professional symphony orchestras. They have been featured on “The Today Show,” “Good Morning America,” “CBS Morning Show,” and have appeared in several nationally televised broadcasts of the “Kennedy Center Honors,” and a 20-year run on NBC/TNT’s “Christmas in Washington.” The Naval Academy also hosts a Distinguished Artists Series that presents world-class performers to the Brigade of Midshipmen and the general public on the stage of Alumni Hall. Among the most popular presentations in Annapolis are the annual Halloween Organ Concert, featuring Chapel Organist Monte Maxwell and a cast of one hundred midshipmen, the Christmas Messiah program and the spring Glee Club musical, a fully staged and costumed Broadway musical; all these events draw capacity audiences exceeding 4000 patrons. The Naval Academy Chapel Organ is one of the country's major instruments. Monte Maxwell serves as principal chapel organist. He was preceded by organist James A. Dale.