Under the direction of Douglas Nimmo, the twenty-first annual Gustavus Honor Band Festival will be hosted on the Gustavus Adolphus College campus, November 7 & 8. The two-day concert band festival includes rehearsals, clinics, master classes and demonstrations with Gustavus faculty. The festival concludes with the 2010 Gustavus Honor Band and the Gustavus Wind Orchestra performing the Festival Concert at 7:00 p.m. in Christ Chapel. The Festival Concert is free and open to the public.
Beginning with the first festival in 1988, the honor band has drawn students from high schools around the region. This year’s band includes 85 students from 41 schools across Minnesota and Iowa. Rehearsals scheduled over the two days will bring these talented young musicians together to prepare music that showcases the variety of music composed or arranged for wind ensemble. The program for the festival concert includes works by John Philip Sousa, Jack Stamp, Mark Watters and John Stevens. Dr. Steve Wright, director of trumpet and jazz studies at Gustavus, will make a special guest appearance to perform the trumpet solo in Ralph Mendez’ La Virgin de la Macarena.
The Gustavus Wind Orchestra follows the Honor Band with a short performance which includes works by Barber, Stamp and Steven Schmidt, as well as a David Gillingham composition commissioned by the wind orchestra in 2005, Light of My Soul. The festival concert concludes with a combined Honor Band and GWO performance of Richard Wagner’s Elsa’s Processional to the Cathedral.
Since 1988, the Department of Music at Gustavus has invited high school band directors to nominate their best band members to participate in the Gustavus Honor Band. Rehearsals begin on Sunday, followed by sectional and ensemble rehearsals and clinics throughout the day on Monday, providing a great musical and artistic experience for these high school musicians.
The 2010 Honor Band Festival concludes on Monday, November 8 at 7:00 p.m. with the festival concert featuring the Gustavus Honor Band, the Gustavus Wind Orchestra and trumpet soloist Steve Wright in Christ Chapel. Both ensembles are under the direction of Douglas Nimmo, Director of Bands at Gustavus and Artistic Director of the festival. This performance in Christ Chapel is free and open to the public.
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