By Sarah McMillin, Staff Writer
The 26th Susquehanna University Annual Honors Band Festival will be held at 3 p.m. on Feb. 18 in Weber Chapel Auditorium.
This festival will bring in a little over a hundred high school musicians from across Pennsylvania, Virginia and New York to perform with the University Symphonic Band.
Students are selected for the festival based on their high school director’s recommendation. Around 300 students apply each year and 125 students were selected this year in addition to the 48 Susquehanna students in the University Symphonic Band.
When the high school students arrive on campus on Feb. 16, they will have seating auditions to determine their places in the festival’s bands. The students will also have master classes on the same day and attend a faculty recital.
Visiting students will be a part of one of two groups: the Honors Wind Ensemble or the Honors Band. The University Symphonic Band will play with both groups. All partici
pants will come together at the end of the concert to perform as the Honors Festival Band.
Eric Hinton, associate professor of music and director of bands at Susquehanna, will conduct the Honors Wind Ensemble and the University Symphonic Band.
Susquehanna alumnus Nicholas Roseth, who graduated in 2008, will conduct the Honors Band.
Roseth earned his master’s degree in music education from the University of Colorado Boulder.
He is also currently a doctoral candidate in music education at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
While on campus, visiting students will stay with members of the University Symphonic Band and other volunteers from the music department in their dorms.
The repertoire the students will be performing this weekend is normally more advanced than what they are used to performing in their high school music ensembles.
In this case, however, students received their music long in advance so that they could properly prepare for the upcoming band festival.
Both bands will rehearse all day on Feb. 17, with a brief rehearsal before the performances on Feb. 18.
The students will also celebrate with a party on the night before the performances.
Hinton said that there is a variety of music for the students.
“The music is challenging and interesting of various styles and origins,” Hinton said.
The festival is an opportunity for both the high school musicians in attendance and Susquehanna.
Many of Susquehanna’s current music students participated in the Honors Band Festival while they were still students in high school.
“[The students] get to know our faculty and our campus better, which has helped us get students excited about potentially studying at [Susquehanna],” Hinton said.
This was the case for sophomore Charlotte Wood, who attended the festival while in high school.
“Honors Band was actually how I learned about [Susquehanna] and is a large part of why I’m here now,” Wood said.
“It’s really important for students to be challenged on their instruments and experience great music-making, but it’s great for the university because students get to learn about the campus and our students more in-depth than they would on a preview day,” Wood continued.
Hinton also noted the work put in by other parts of campus, rather than just the music department.
“It’s a lot of work and we couldn’t do this without support from other offices on campus, i.e. Res Life, Public Safety, Event Management,” Hinton said. “I also have a student staff of five music educators who work extremely hard to make this festival function smoothly.”
“It’s a labor of love for all of us,” Hinton added.
Hinton continued and praised the opportunity for students to work with those further along in their careers.
“It is an excellent musical experience,” Hinton said. “The students have the opportunity to work with experienced conductors.” “
They also get to work with our distinguished faculty,” Hinton continued. “The goal is that they learn a lot about playing their instruments better and about playing in an ensemble.”
Previous guests at the Honors Band Festival have included professor emeritus Don Owens from Northwestern, who conducted at Susquehanna at the 25th annual festival.
The University Symphonic Band will also perform at 2:30 p.m. on April 29 in Stretansky Concert Hall.
Music performances throughout the rest of the semester also include student recitals, faculty recitals, an opera performance, the student composers concert and concerts by various musical groups on campus.