Youngstown State to host high schools at Wind & Percussion Invitational
The Cuyahoga Falls High School Symphonic Band and the North Olmsted Falls High School Wind Symphony will join the YSU Wind Ensemble and YSU Percussion Ensemble at the 16th Annual Wind & Percussion Invitational on at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 23 at Stambaugh Auditorium.
Visiting high school musicians will join Dana School of Music faculty, and student ensembles in master classes and workshops, then will conclude the evening with a joint concert. Since 2007, 29 high school concert bands and wind ensembles from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York have attended this annual invitational festival.
Ted Shistle, the Director of Bands at the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in Jacksonville, Florida, is this year’s guest clinician.
Olmsted Falls listed as one of top 100 communities for music education
Olmsted Falls has been listed annually as one of the “100 Best Communities for Music Education.” The high school band program is built up by the marching band, four concert ensembles, two jazz bands, and a music theory course taught by the choral director.
Olmsted Falls Wind Symphony is under the direction of YSU Dana School of Music alumnus Ms. Julie Roberts. She assisted the band program for multiple years before becoming the head director. While under her direction, this group has doubled in size and now performs some of the most challenging music in the wind band literature. This ensemble is the top level of concert ensembles at Olmsted Falls High School and is taken as an honors class by most students.
Cuyahoga Falls supports four primary concert bands
Cuyahoga Falls High School supports four primary concert bands, the Freshman Band for all ninth-grade students as well as three ability-based audition bands, Gold Band, Black Band, and Symphonic Band. Under Dustin Harris’s direction, Symphonic Band is comprised of the most advanced musicians involved in the instrumental music program. The group performs some of the most advanced literature in the wind band repertoire. Many of the students in the group take private lessons and perform in other ensembles that meet outside the regular school day.
The two high school bands will perform selected pieces while both the YSU Wind Ensemble, directed by Dr. Michael Butler, and the YSU Percussion Ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Glenn Schaft, will also perform.
Music includes, among other pieces, “Hoo-Daiko” Traditional Japanese Taiko, arranged by Robert J. Damm; “Arabesque” by Samuel Hazo; “A Movement for Rosa” by Mark Camphouse; “Deep River” by Benjamin Horne; and “Star Wars Trilogy” by John Williams, arranged by Donald Hunsberger.
Tickets are $8/$7 and free for anyone with a valid YSU ID and available at www.stambaughauditorium.com or the door that evening.
More information is available by calling the Office of Community Engagement and Events at 330-941-2346.
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