More than 100 student musicians from 43 high schools across Minnesota and northern Iowa will converge on Gustavus Adolphus College on Nov. 6-7 for the 22nd annual Gustavus Honor Band Festival.
The two-day concert band festival, under the direction of Douglas Nimmo, includes rehearsals, seminars, clinics, master classes and demonstrations with Gustavus faculty. The festival concludes at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 7 in Christ Chapel with the Festival Concert, which will feature the 2011 Gustavus Honor Band and the Gustavus Wind Orchestra. The Festival Concert is free and open to the public.
Beginning with the first festival in 1988, the Gustavus Honor Band has drawn students from high schools around the region to the campus each fall. Rehearsals scheduled over the two days will bring these talented young musicians together to study and prepare music that showcases the variety of music composed or arranged for wind ensemble.
The program for the festival concert opens with the Honor Band performing works by John Philip Sousa, Rolf Rudin, and Peter Mennin. The Gustavus Wind Orchestra follows with works by Nancy Galbraith, John Alan Carnhan, John Zdechlik, and five movements from Aaron Copland’s The Red Pony. The Honor Band and Gustavus Wind Orchestra will form a 170+ instrument massed wind orchestra to close the Festival Concert with the 1984 Olympic Fanfare and Theme by John Williams.
Since 1988, the Department of Music at Gustavus has invited high school band directors to nominate members of their ensembles 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.
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