When the Pacific Coast Wind Ensemble presents “Americans We: A Star-Spangled Celebration,” the program will do more than mark America’s 250th Anniversary. It will offer a musical portrait of the country itself: bold, heartfelt, restless, inventive, and full of rhythm.

Led by Dr. Ernie Hills, Professor of Music Emeritus at California State University, Sacramento, the concert brings together patriotic favorites, American composers, jazz-infused selections, and classic wind ensemble showpieces. Dr. Hills has spent a distinguished career as a trombonist, conductor, music educator, and arts leader, including service as Director of the School of Music at Sacramento State.

“This program is really about the many ways America has found its voice through music,” says Dr. Hills. “There’s ceremony here, certainly, but also humor, swing, memory, and community.”

The concert includes music by Irving Berlin, whose “God Bless America” has become one of the country’s most enduring patriotic songs. Berlin first wrote…