If Paul Revere were alive and residing in Utah Valley — perhaps in Spanish Fork, or Payson — then he might get on his horse Sunday evening and go galloping down Interstate 15 to warn the populace about the concert to be presented Monday night at American Fork Junior High School. That’s where American Fork Symphony, with special guest Alan Boyer conducting, will dive into a program titled “The British Are Here.”

The lineup of beloved English pieces was devised by Boyer, who lives in Highland, but grew up in England and didn’t move to Utah until 1998. Boyer said that he made his selections in part based on what the symphony already had available in its library. “It’s very expensive to rent or buy music,” he said. “I also went and listened to them before Christmas, just to see what their performance standard was.”

Beyond that, it was a snap. Boyer began his involvement in music by learning to play the trumpet at age 11, and has been conducting since he was 15. After discovering music, Boyer said, he made rapid progress because of the caliber of musicians around him. “I lived in a coal mining community that boasted one of the top five or six brass bands in the world,” he said.

(Though he’s no longer involved on account of a busy schedule, Boyer founded Utah Premiere Brass, the Beehive State’s foremost brass band.)

He began playing instrumental solos at a young age, but never grasped what others had told him was the magic of being a featured soloist. That kind of excitement, he said, didn’t come along until his first experience conducting. “It was an arrangement that I had made of a TV theme,” Boyer said. “I just had this emotional buzz wash through me. I thought, ‘This is it.’ That was just thrilling for me.”

Among the assortment of pieces that will be featured in “The British Are Coming,” Boyer has two that he’s especially fond of: “Mars, the Bringer of War,” by Gustav Holst (featured in Holst’s orchestral suite “The Planets”), and “Nimrod,” from Edward Elgar’s “Enigma Variations.”

Boyer said that “Nimrod,” in particular, is a complex, challenging piece. “It’s very, very difficult to play, because it’s so slow and balanced,” he said.

One benefit of having difficult pieces in the mix, he said, is that the symphony’s players have been pushed more than the norm. “It’s challenged the orchestra,” he said. “It’s forced them to raise their game.” Not only that, he said, but everyone has gotten better together. “They’ve got so much passion, they’re putting everything into it, all of their emotion,” he said.

Symphony publicist (and participant) Maxine Steele said that she’s especially enjoyed “English Folk Song Suite” by Ralph Vaughan Williams, but thinks that the entire show will appeal to patrons of classical music. “It’s exciting and interesting,” Steele said. “It’s something our audience should really enjoy.”

Boyer, who lives in Highland but frequently commutes to Las Vegas for his work in the field of sound systems technology, said that thinking about the concert has gotten him excited on long drives between Vegas and Utah Valley for Saturday morning rehearsals. His personal philosophy, he said, is that musicians are entertainers and he hopes that the concert will provide first-class entertainment.

“I love to see people enriched and see the audience connect with the performers,” Boyer said. “We can take them on a little journey and help them forget about their problems for a couple of hours.”

American Fork Symphony presents — “The British Are Here” Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m. A.F. Junior High Auditorium, 1120 N 20 W. Dr. Alan Boyer, conducting. Admission: $5 adults – $3 students – $15 family.

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