Rush Henrietta High School Singers
Apr 11 2012

April 13, 2012 – Rush-Henrietta Singers concert in Notre Dame de Bon Secours

Rush-Henrietta Singers
Christine Sargent, director
Friday, April 13, 2012
8:00pm
Notre Dame de Bon Secours
400 Saint Paul Street East
Montreal, Quebec H2Y 1H4 (map)

FREE ADMISSION

Program scheduled to include…
Consecrate the Place and Day — Lloyd Pfautsch
Sing Joyfully — William Byrd
Great Day — Joseph Martin
A Jubilant Song — Rene Clausen
My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord — arr. Moses Hogan
Fields of Gold — arr. Greg Jasperse
Dubula — arr. Stephen Hatfield
…and much more

About the artists…

The Rush-Henrietta Singers performed as the featured choir in the National Youth Choral Festival at Carnegie Hall. This auditioned group of 10-12 grade students has performed in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, San Marco Cathedral in Venice, Il Duomo in Milan and numerous other venues in Italy, Switzerland and Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia  In addition, the RH Singers have had the honor of premiering the oratorio, Prelude to Glory in Washington’s Constitution Hall with the National Philharmonic Orchestra. In Montréal, the RH Singers performed in Notre Dame Basilica and St. Joseph’s Oratory.  Locally, the singers have performed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Penfield Symphony, the Rochester Oratorio Society, the Hochstein Music Educator’s Wind Ensemble, the Geneseo Chamber Singers and the Mansfield College Chamber Singers.

Christine Sargent holds a master of music education degree from the Eastman School of Music, studying with Dr. Donald Neuen, Dr. Samuel Adler and Masako Toribara.  Mrs. Sargent has been the director of the Rush-Henrietta Singers for the past 17 years. During that time she has also served as the president of the Monroe County School Music Association and was a past recipient of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s Outstanding Choral Music Educator Award and Henrietta Commerce Network for its Cultural Contributions to the Community Award.

Apr 2 2012

Central California Youth Symphony in London Regents Hall – April 10, 2012


Central California Youth Symphony
Sheldon Schlesinger, director
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
1:00pm Concert
Regents Hall
275 Oxford Street
London W1C 2DJ (map)

Free admission

Program scheduled to include
Highlights from West Side Story — Leonard Bernstein
Highlights from Porgy and Bess — George Gershwin
Pirates of the Caribbean — Klaus Badel
Selections from The Phantom of the Opera — Andrew Lloyd-Webber

About the artists…
The Central California Youth Symphony is set in the geographical state center of Fresno, California. The youth symphony was founded in 1998 after the Hoover High School tour to Italy. While many of the students do attend Hoover High in Fresno, several of the students who participate in the youth symphony now attend college in Fresno and are former students of Hoover High School. The youth symphony has performed several concerts in the Fresno area and plans to play an international tour every other year. This is the seventh international tour for the Central California Youth Symphony including tours to Austria and the Czech Republic (in 2000), China (in 2002), Spain and Portugal (in 2004), France and Belgium (in 2006), Italy (in 2008), and Austria and Germany (in 2010).

Sheldon Schlesinger grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and attended Mills High School in Milbrae. As a member of the California Youth Symphony, from 1965 – 1969, he attended tours to Mexico, Australia, Switzerland, and Czechoslovakia (1971). He attended the University of California, Santa Barbara and received his BA in music and history. He taught in Bakersfield from 1973 – 1978. He has taught music in Fresno since 1978 and has been orchestra director at Hoover High School in Fresno since 1983. Mr. Schlesinger plays double bass professionally with orchestras in Fresno and throughout Central California. Mr. Schlesinger is the assistant director at the Pacific Summer Music Institute at the Univer­sity of the Pacific in Stockton, California (1975 – 2000)

Mr. Schlesinger started the Central California Youth Symphony in April 1998 after the Hoover High School Orchestra tour to Italy. The goal is to give international musical travel experiences to students throughout Central California. This is the seventh international tour for the Central California Youth Symphony including tours to Austria, the Czech Republic, China, Spain and Portugal, France and Belgium, Italy, and Germany.
 

Apr 2 2012

Central California Youth Symphony at the Brockagh Resource Centre – April 4, 2012

Central California Youth Symphony
Sheldon Schlesinger, director
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
7:00pm Concert
Brockagh Resource Centre
Glendalough, Laragh
Co. Wicklow (map)

Free admission

Program scheduled to include
Highlights from West Side Story — Leonard Bernstein
Highlights from Porgy and Bess — George Gershwin
Pirates of the Caribbean — Klaus Badel
Selections from The Phantom of the Opera — Andrew Lloyd-Webber

About the artists…
The Central California Youth Symphony is set in the geographical state center of Fresno, California. The youth symphony was founded in 1998 after the Hoover High School tour to Italy. While many of the students do attend Hoover High in Fresno, several of the students who participate in the youth symphony now attend college in Fresno and are former students of Hoover High School. The youth symphony has performed several concerts in the Fresno area and plans to play an international tour every other year. This is the seventh international tour for the Central California Youth Symphony including tours to Austria and the Czech Republic (in 2000), China (in 2002), Spain and Portugal (in 2004), France and Belgium (in 2006), Italy (in 2008), and Austria and Germany (in 2010).

Sheldon Schlesinger grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and attended Mills High School in Milbrae. As a member of the California Youth Symphony, from 1965 – 1969, he attended tours to Mexico, Australia, Switzerland, and Czechoslovakia (1971). He attended the University of California, Santa Barbara and received his BA in music and history. He taught in Bakersfield from 1973 – 1978. He has taught music in Fresno since 1978 and has been orchestra director at Hoover High School in Fresno since 1983. Mr. Schlesinger plays double bass professionally with orchestras in Fresno and throughout Central California. Mr. Schlesinger is the assistant director at the Pacific Summer Music Institute at the Univer­sity of the Pacific in Stockton, California (1975 – 2000)

Mr. Schlesinger started the Central California Youth Symphony in April 1998 after the Hoover High School Orchestra tour to Italy. The goal is to give international musical travel experiences to students throughout Central California. This is the seventh international tour for the Central California Youth Symphony including tours to Austria, the Czech Republic, China, Spain and Portugal, France and Belgium, Italy, and Germany.
 

Emmaus HS Women's Chamber Choir 1
Mar 28 2012

Emmaus High School Women’s Chamber Choir – April 4, 2012


Emmaus High School Women’s Chamber Choir
Rita Cortez, director
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
11:00am Concert
St. Canice’s Cathedral
Coach Road
Kilkenny (map)

Program scheduled to include
Sicut Cervus — Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Salmo 150 — Ernani Aguiar
Tota Pulchra Es — Maurice Durufle
Set Me As a Seal — Rene Clausen
I’m Gonna Wait on the Lord — Damon H. Dandridge
…and more

The Emmaus High School Women’s Choir is an auditioned choir comprised of girls in ninth through twelfth grades.  They are one of six choral ensembles in a program that involves three hundred students.

The Women’s Choir focuses on singing a wide variety of repertoire from Renaissance to Twentieth-Century classical music. The girls perform regularly for the community in the Lehigh Valley area of eastern Pennsylvania.  In April 2008, the Women’s Choir was one of only twenty groups selected to perform at the Pennsylvania Music Educators Conference in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Ms. Rita Cortez is currently in her eighth year as choral director at Emmaus High School, after teaching in public and private schools for over twenty-five years.  She earned a B.A. and a B.Mus. from Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA, as well as a Master’s Degree in Music Education from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ.  Her groups have performed at Carnegie Hall and on international tours to Italy and Greece.

Emmaus HS Women's Chamber Choir 1
Mar 28 2012

Emmaus High School Women’s Chamber Choir – April 2, 2012

Emmaus High School Women’s Chamber Choir
Rita Cortez, director
Monday, April 2, 2012
1:00pm Recital
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Saint Patrick’s Close
Dublin 8 (map)

Paid admission to the Cathedral required (details)

Program scheduled to include
Sicut Cervus — Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Salmo 150 — Ernani Aguiar
Tota Pulchra Es — Maurice Durufle
Set Me As a Seal — Rene Clausen
I’m Gonna Wait on the Lord — Damon H. Dandridge
…and more

The Emmaus High School Women’s Choir is an auditioned choir comprised of girls in ninth through twelfth grades.  They are one of six choral ensembles in a program that involves three hundred students.

The Women’s Choir focuses on singing a wide variety of repertoire from Renaissance to Twentieth-Century classical music. The girls perform regularly for the community in the Lehigh Valley area of eastern Pennsylvania.  In April 2008, the Women’s Choir was one of only twenty groups selected to perform at the Pennsylvania Music Educators Conference in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Ms. Rita Cortez is currently in her eighth year as choral director at Emmaus High School, after teaching in public and private schools for over twenty-five years.  She earned a B.A. and a B.Mus. from Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA, as well as a Master’s Degree in Music Education from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ.  Her groups have performed at Carnegie Hall and on international tours to Italy and Greece.

Council Rock South_Group
Mar 27 2012

Council Rock South Orchestra – March 31, 2012 on the Canon Stage at the Sylvan Theater

Council Rock South Orchestra
Christopher Simon, director
Saturday, March 31, 2012
1:00pm
Canon Stage at the Sylvan Theater
Washington, DC 20024 (map)

Free admission

Program scheduled to include
Music from Up — Michael Giacchino
Danse Macabre — Camille Saint-Saens
William Tell Overture — Gioachino Rossini
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 — Alexandre Desplat
“Jupiter” from The Planets — Gustav Holst

About the artists…
Since its inception in 2002, The Council Rock South Orchestra has performed for over 150 festival, school, neighborhood and overseas concerts. They were recently honored by a special invitation to perform at The White House in December 2011. Last year, conductor Christopher Simon led his 85 member orchestra on an 8-day performance tour of Paris, Nice, and Monaco. In May 2003, the orchestra embarked on a tour ofScotland, performing in notable halls inElgin andEdinburgh. The orchestra’s success inScotland led to performances at the newUnited   StatesConstitutionCenter and at various adjudication festivals where they have consistently earned superior ratings. The CRSO touredItaly in 2007 and performed in concerts inRome, Sienna, Campodarsego, andPadua. In April 2005, the orchestra traveled toBaltimore’s Meyerhoff Symphony Hall to work with members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Comments by BSO’s members echoed the praises by numerous other professional musicians that Council Rock High School South is unique in its ability to draw so much talent from only one school and that Mr. Simon has quickly molded that talent into one of the top high school orchestras inAmerica. The CRSO was chosen by the Philadelphia Orchestra to perform side-by-side in a performance in May 2009. This year, the Delaware Valley Philharmonic Orchestra invited the CRSO for the second time to join them in a side-by-side concert. The Pennsylvania Music Educators Association invited the orchestra to their conference in 2006, 2009, and this April 2012 as a featured performer. Out of 400 high school orchestras inPennsylvania, the CRSO was the only orchestra chosen in those years.

Five times each year, members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Trenton Symphony, Ocean City Pops, and Temple University faculty have given master sectionals for our students in an effort to raise the level of play to spectacular heights. The Orchestra is also host to an Orchestra Festival held in May of each year. The unique festival is the only one of its kind and focuses on promoting the full orchestra concept. The orchestras are adjudicated by a panel of three professional orchestra conductors.

Christopher Simon has been directing orchestras, bands, and jazz bands since 1988, and he was appointed the conductor of the high school orchestras in 2002. Mr. Simon also directs the Chamber Orchestra and teaches classes in music theory, music arranging and jazz improvisation. He received both of his college degrees, Bachelor of Music in Education and Master of Music in Cello Performance, from Temple University in Philadelphia. His cello studies include lessons with Orlando Cole, Jeff Holm, Grammy Award winning chamber musician Jeffrey Solow and master classes with Janos Starker, Ralph Kirshbaum, the Audobon Quartet, and the Muir Quartet. Mr. Simon performs as a cellist with two professional orchestras: Delaware Valley Philharmonic Orchestra and the Newtown Chamber Orchestra, and also as a trombonist with several jazz groups. He regularly gives solo and chamber recitals with his wife, Lisa Simon, a pianist, and currently resides in Doylestown, Pennsylvania with Lisa and their three children.

Freedom High School casual photo_2012
Mar 27 2012

Freedom HS Orchestra and Dobson HS Symphonic Strings at the Jefferson Memorial – March 30, 2012

Freedom High School Orchestra
Jessica Talbott, director
Dobson High School Symphonic Strings
Robert Nichols, director
Friday, March 30, 2012
2:15pm - 4:00pm
Jefferson Memorial
Washington, DC 20024

Free admission

Program scheduled to include
Air for Strings — Norman Dello Joio
Molly on the Shore — Percy Grainger
Palladio, 1st Movement — Karl Jenkins
“Presto” from String Quartet Op. 131 — Ludwin Van Beethoven
An American Portrait — Eugenie Rocherolle
Bailes Para Orquesta — Richard Meyer
Hoe Down — Aaron Copland
The Red Pony — Aaron Copland
…and more

About the artists…
The Freedom High School Orchestra performing in Washington D.C. is made up of students from the top two orchestras at the school. Directed by Jessica Talbott, Freedom currently has 125 students enrolled in four different levels of orchestra, each having a significant number of performance opportunities given to them throughout the year. Students participate in multiple concerts at the school and in the community, both as an orchestra and also in chamber ensembles. They perform all genre of music from Baroque to Video Game music.

The Freedom Orchestras also participate in the Florida Orchestra Association District and State level Music Performance Assessments for both Concert Orchestra and Solo and Ensembles. For the past several years, the school has received the highest level rating, superior. Consistently students from the Freedom Orchestra have been chosen, based on audition, to participate in the Orange County All-County Orchestra. The orchestra has also had representation in the prestigious All-State Orchestra. Students also continue on to major in music at College, winning scholarships based on their talent.

This is the first time Freedom has traveled outside of the state, and they hope it will be the first of many.

Jessica Talbott is a graduate of Florida State University and has two degrees: a Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance and a Bachelor of Music Education in instrumental music. She also holds a Florida teaching certificate in music.

Mrs. Talbott has been teaching in Central Florida since 2002. She has serviced the community both in public school orchestra settings and in the private sector, having taught general elementary music, beginning 4th and 5th grade strings, and middle school orchestra. Currently she is teaching at Freedom High School and is also the conductor for the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestra’s Overture Strings and the Stetson University Community School Youth Strings.

Mrs. Talbott also teaches private cello lessons in the community. Her students have continuously made the OCPS All-County Orchestra and the Florida All-State Orchestra. Mrs. Talbott’s students have also continued their cello education in college and she now has former students at FSU, UF and Stetson Universities all majoring in cello.

In addition to teaching, she is also an active cellist. She is the cellist and founding member of the Park Lake String Quartet and also performs on the cello around the state of Florida in various ensembles.

Jessica is a past District 8 chair for Florida Orchestra Association, past President of the Florida Chapter of the American String Teachers Association, and department head for her school. She has served as All-County chair for Orange County and also judges FOA Music Performance Assessments.

Robert R. Nichols is in his 9th year as Director of Orchestras and Performing Arts Department Chair at Dobson High School. He has been teaching orchestra to all ages in the Mesa Schools for the past 28 years. Mr. Nichols holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Northern Arizona University (NAU) and a Master of Music in Cello Performance from Arizona State University (ASU). He has served on the Arizona Band and Orchestra Directors Association (ABODA) and Arizona Music Educators Association (AMEA) Executive Boards over his tenure, and is currently President Elect of AMEA.  In 1994 he was a recipient of the AMEA George C. Wilson Leadership/Service Award. In October of 2000 he was named the recipient of the “Distinguished Professional and Community Service Award” by the NAU Alumni Association and the School of Performing Arts.  In Jan. 2008 Mr. Nichols Received the O.M. Hartzel Award for Excellence in Teaching Music. Mr. Nichols has been a sought after clinician for district, region, and music camp orchestras. He also maintains a thriving private cello studio.  He has taught in the NAU Pat B Curry Summer Music Camp faculty, and served as Assistant Director of the camp for 12 years. Happily married to Jennifer, he has four children ages 23,21,10,and 8.

Dobson HS Strings_2012
Mar 27 2012

Dobson HS Symphonic Strings in Concert – March 29, 2012

Dobson High School Symphonic Strings
Robert Nichols, director
Thursday, March 29, 2012
4:00pm
National Museum of the Marine Corps
18900 Jefferson Davis Highway
Triangle, VA 22172 (map)

Free admission (to the concert and to the museum)

Program scheduled to include
An American Portrait — Eugenie Rocherolle
Bailes Para Orquesta — Richard Meyer
Hoe Down — Aaron Copland
The Red Pony — Aaron Copland
…and more

About the artists…
Robert R. Nichols is in his 9th year as Director of Orchestras and Performing Arts Department Chair at Dobson High School. He has been teaching orchestra to all ages in the Mesa Schools for the past 28 years. Mr. Nichols holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Northern Arizona University (NAU) and a Master of Music in Cello Performance from Arizona State University (ASU). He has served on the Arizona Band and Orchestra Directors Association (ABODA) and Arizona Music Educators Association (AMEA) Executive Boards over his tenure, and is currently President Elect of AMEA.  In 1994 he was a recipient of the AMEA George C. Wilson Leadership/Service Award. In October of 2000 he was named the recipient of the “Distinguished Professional and Community Service Award” by the NAU Alumni Association and the School of Performing Arts.  In Jan. 2008 Mr. Nichols Received the O.M. Hartzel Award for Excellence in Teaching Music. Mr. Nichols has been a sought after clinician for district, region, and music camp orchestras. He also maintains a thriving private cello studio.  He has taught in the NAU Pat B Curry Summer Music Camp faculty, and served as Assistant Director of the camp for 12 years. Happily married to Jennifer, he has four children ages 23,21,10,and 8.

Mars Hill Bible School Photo
Mar 23 2012

Family Days at the National Building Museum – Mars Hill Bible School Band – March 25, 2012

Mars Hill Bible School Band
Joey Krieger, director
Sunday, March 25, 2012
3:00pm
National Cherry Blossom Festival
Family Days
National Building Museum
401 F Street NW
Washington, DC 20001 (map)

Free admission (to the concert, not the museum exhibits)

Program scheduled to include
“March” from Folk Song Suite — Ralph Vaughan Williams
Shenandoah — Frank Ticheli
Pilatus, Mountain of Dragons — Steven Reineke
Armed Forces Salute — arr. Lowden

About the artists…
The Mars Hill Bible School Band in currently celebrating its twenty-fifth  year, and in that short time it has been recognized as one of the finest band programs in the state of Alabama.  This is evident by the many prestigious awards the band has received during its history.  The group has consistently received superior ratings at the District and State level.  In addition, the band has performed well in regional competitions, placing first in the Orlando Festival of Music in 1997 and Musicfest Orlando in 2001.  On the national level the band placed first at the National Heritage Music Festival in Washington D. C. in 1999 and 2003, and was awarded the Adjudicators Trophy for being selected as the most outstanding ensemble at the festival.  The Group won the sweepstakes trophy at the National Heritage Music Festival in Hawaii in the spring of 2004 and performed a concert at the USS Missouri docked in Pearl Harbor.  The Mars Hill Band has also been fortunate to perform at the Kings College School in London, England, and the International School in Paris, France.  The Band was honored to perform for the Alabama Music Educators Association Conference in the spring of 2001.  In the spring of 2005 the ensemble captured its second first place trophy at the Musicfest Orlando Competition.  The Symphonic Winds won Best in Class at Musicfest Disney in the Spring of 2010.

Joey Krieger is in his eighteenth year as Mars Hill Bible Schools Director of Bands.  His responsibilities include teaching all instrumental music class from beginners in the fifth grade to the Symphonic Winds.  He also founded The Mars Hill Jazz Band and rehearses this group after school hours. He is a native of Florence, Alabama and a graduate of the University of North Alabama in Florence with Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Music Education.  Mr. Krieger studied with Dr. David Arthur Thomas, Dr. James K. Simpson and Dr. Edd Jones at UNA.    Mr. Krieger’s bands have consistently received superior ratings at every level of competition and placed first in both Concert and Jazz competitions in Washington D. C. and Orlando, Florida. He is the recipient of the Citation of Excellence from the National Band Association for outstanding contribution to bands and band music.  He has also served as an adjudicator across the state of Alabama.   His professional affiliations include the Alabama Music Educators Association, Alabama Bandmasters Association, The National Band Association, and the International Association of Jazz Educators.  He and his wife Kelli have two sons Luke and Brandon who are members of the Mars Hill Bible School Symphonic Winds.

Neuqua Valley HS - 2012 January Tour Ensembles Concert
Mar 16 2012

Neuqua Valley High School Festival Bands at Orangerie Schönbrunn – March 26, 2012

 

Neuqua Valley High School Festival Bands
Charles W. Staley, Jonathan Lauff,
Mark Duker, & William Jastrow, directors
Monday, March 26, 2102
3:30pm Concert
Orangerie Schönbrunn
Schönbrunner Schloßstraße
1130 Vienna (map)

Program scheduled to include
Chicago Tribune March — W. Paris Chambers
Fugue on “Yankee Doodle” — John Philip Sousa
Shenandoah — arr. Frank Ticheli
Radetzky March — Johann Strauss, Sr.
…and much more

FREE CONCERT
Voluntary donations will be collected at the concert in support of “Streetchildren in Arad,” a project of the European Culture Initiative for the Young Generation.

About the artists…
Neuqua Valley High School is part of Indian Prairie District 204, located in Naperville, Illinois, 40 miles west of Chicago.  The arts receive tremendous community support.  NVHS serves grades 9-12 and has a student population of over 4500 students.  Parents serve on committees associated with our MEAC organization devoted to serve the needs of our active program.  Since opening in 1997, NVHS has received Grammy Gold status 4 times, most recently in May of 2009.  In 2005, they were named the Grammy National Signature School in recognition for having the best high school music program in the United States.  In September 2009, NVHS earned the distinction of the only public school in the country to earn the Kennedy Center Award for excellence in the fine and performing arts.

Music is an elective and serves over 1300 students.  Courses offered are Music Theory, Advanced Placement Music Theory, and twenty-four performing groups.  There are 11 certified music staff and one full time accompanist.  Students have access to state-of-the-art technology including a sixteen station MIDI lab and recording equipment.  The curriculum is based on the MENC National Standards.  NVHS offers a comprehensive after school program that involves over 400 students in jazz bands, jazz choirs, steel bands, symphony orchestra, fiddle group, multi-cultural choir, marching band, pep band, and musical theater orchestra.

Visit www.neuquamusic.org for more information about the NVHS program.