Honors Band Clinic to Feature Masterclass by Wynton Marsalis, Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra
Students who attend Eastern Kentucky University’s 23rd annual High School Honors Band Clinic Feb. 23-25 will receive a special treat.
Renowned trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, on campus for a Feb. 25 public performance at the EKU Center for the Arts, will present a special masterclass session for clinic participants on Saturday, Feb. 25, at 1:30 p.m. at the Center for the Arts. Clinic participants will have the opportunity to interact with and play for Marsalis and the Orchestra. Tickets for non-clinic participants wishing to attend the masterclass are available in advance (858-622-SHOW) or at the door for $20 apiece. Tickets for that evening’s public concert by Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra are available at ekucenter.com or by calling the EKU Center for the Arts at 859-622-SHOW (7469).
The Honors Band Clinic is expected to bring approximately 400 guest students, teachers and clinicians from a multi-state area for a weekend of rehearsals, concerts, masterclasses and clinics. Participants are expected from Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, Ohio and West Virginia.
On Friday evening, Feb. 24, the University Concert Band and University Wind Symphony will present a special posthumous tribute to Charles F. Campbell, a 1962 EKU graduate who went on to become “a legend among Kentucky band directors,” according to Dr. Joe Allison, director of bands at Eastern and clinic director.
Campbell, who passed away in 2011, directed bands at George Rogers Clark High School in Winchester and East Hardin and North Hardin high schools in Elizabethtown during a 31-year career. The former Kentucky High School Music Teacher of the Year was inducted into the American Bandmasters Association. Also, Allison noted, “each performing ensemble at the clinic (high school and college) will feature a guest conductor who has significant history” with Campbell, including J. Larry Moore, Brian Froedge, John Stroube and Jack Walker.
The Campbell tribute, free and open to the public, will be held at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 24 at the EKU Center for the Arts.
The Concert Band, directed by Ken Haddix, will spotlight clarinetist Dr. Connie Rhoades of the EKU music faculty in Scott McAllister’s contemporary work “Black Dog.” The Wind Symphony, conducted by Allison, will feature Dr. Richard Waters, EKU’s new director of choral activities, conducting “The Seal Lullaby,” a recent composition by Eric Whitacre.
In addition, the guest high school honor groups will perform a free concert at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25, in Brock Auditorium.
For more information about the Honors Band Clinic at EKU, call 859-622-3266 or e-mail Katherine Williams at katherine.williams@eku.edu.
For more information about the EKU Center for the Arts, visit ekucenter.com.