Region's Top High School Instrumentalists Present Honors Band Concert on Jan. 21

ANNVILLE, PA (01/13/2012)(readMedia)-- The region's best high school instrumentalists will convene at Lebanon Valley College for a special performance as the high school honors band. The free concert will be Jan. 21 at 7 p.m. in Lutz Hall of the Blair Music Center.

Ninety students from Lebanon, Palmyra, Milton Hershey, Conrad Weiser, Manheim Township, Blue Mountain, Annville-Cleona, Conestoga Valley, Middletown, Northern Lebanon, Upper Dauphin, Biglerville, and Wilson high schools will gather to display the area's top talent.

The program includes "Miniature Overture" by Jack Stamp, a "clever concert opener that takes a simple folk-like melody through several processes including stretto, canon, inversion and simultaneous recapitulation," according to the concert director Dr. Chris Heffner, assistant professor of music at LVC.

It continues with "Allerseelen," or "All Souls' Day," by Richard Strauss and A.O. Davis, which dates from Strauss' teenage years and remains one of his most admired works. The players will also perform Clifton Williams' "Symphonic Dance No. 3, Fiesta." This work was originally one of five works commissioned to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra. The "Fiesta" depicts the pageantry of Latin-American celebrations-street bands, bullfights, and bright costumes.

The concert will draw a pop culture reference with "March from '1941.'" This march by John Williams was written for Stephen Spielberg's comedy, "1941," for the character Wild Bill Kelso (played by John Belushi), which required humor and rhythmic vitality. Heffner describes it as a "zanily patriotic march that will keep your feet tapping."