The Eighth Annual Northwest Suburban Conference Music Festival will be held on Monday, February 4, 2008 at Park Center Senior High School in Brooklyn Park, MN. This festival involves ten high school bands, ten choirs, and eight orchestras; including approximately 1600 students from the four NWSC school districts.

The festival is in two parts. During the day, from 8:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m., the 28 high school groups will perform in three different venues at Park Center Senior High. Each performance will be watched by an audience of peers, family, and friends, and then critiqued by nationally known guest clinicians. This festival is non-competitive. Students are encouraged to attend as many other performances of their peers as they are able, to learn from each other and cheer for each other.

That same evening, a grand finale performance of the All-Conference band, choir, and orchestra will begin at 7:00 p.m. in the Park Center South Gym. All-conference members are nominated by their high school directors. They have been rehearsing together since the second week in January, and will rehearse twice with their guest clinicians before their performances February 4th.

The guest clinician this year for the orchestra is Dr. Kirk Moss, of Minnesota State University - Moorhead. Dr. Moss is professor of orchestras and string education at Moorhead, and has been a guest clinician all over the United States.

The orchestra will perform three great classical works. First, they will perform the overture to Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Nabucco. This opera tells the story of the Babylonian king Nabucco and his ill-fated invasion of Israel. Next will be “Nimrod” from Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations. Elgar dedicated the Enigma Variations “To my friends pictured within;” portraying fourteen people (and one dog) in the music. The ninth variation, “Nimrod,” portrays one of Elgar’s greatest friends and supporters and is considered to be one of the most beautiful and moving works in all of classical music. Lastly, the orchestra will perform Finlandia. This stirring piece, by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, was written in 1899-1900 to protest Russian rule and the increasing restrictions Russia was placing on Finnish autonomy. The great conductor Leopold Stokowski suggested the hymn from Finlandia should be the national anthem for the world.

The choir will be directed by Bruce Rogers from Mount San Antonio College in California. This nationally known conductor will be leading the choir with several beautiful works. Mr. Rogers and choirs under his direction have performed all over the world, including such varied places as Wales, the Czech Republic, and Carnegie Hall, New York. He has been the recipient of many national and international honors and awards.

First, the choir will perform Bright Morning Star, an Appalachian folk song arranged by Fred Squatrito. Second is Festival Introit by Greg Knauf, a young American composer. Laetatus Sum, by J.M Haydn, was written in 1788 for performance during the Christian season of Lent. The title translates to “For I Rejoiced.” Lux Aurumque, or “Light of Gold,” is a translation into Latin of a poem by Edward Esch with music by Eric Whitacre. The choir finale will be Walkin' Down That Glory Road, a traditional-style spiritual by Mark Hayes.

Leading the band will be Dr. Scott Jones of Concordia University, Moorhead. Dr. Jones is a professor of bands, instrumental conducting, and instrumental music education.

Gandalf – The Lord of the Rings is a 1988 piece featuring Dutch composer Johan de Meij’s interpretation of the Tolkien classic. The band will also play Toccata, by Italian composer Girolamo Frescobaldi (arranged by Earl Slocum). Frescobaldi was known in his lifetime mainly for his keyboard playing, and was an influence on the young Johann Sebastian Bach. Frank Ticheli’s Shenandoah is a beautiful, lyrical piece based on the Appalachian folk song by the same name and inspired by the idea of a flowing, timeless river. Bushdance, by Australian composer Ralph Hultgren, uses a unique Australian instrument called a Lagerphone. This instrument is a stick with bottle tops that is rattled to make a sound.

The evening concert will end with the three ensembles combining to perform Carmen Dragon’s arrangement of America the Beautiful.

The daytime concerts are free and open to the public. Tickets for the evening concert may be purchased at the door. Adults $6, students and seniors $4.

Park Center Senior High is located at 7300 Brooklyn Blvd., Brooklyn Park, MN.

The Northwest Suburban Conference (NWSC) is an athletics/activity conference including four school districts located northwest of Minneapolis. It made up of ten high schools: from Anoka-Hennepin ISD #11 - Andover, Anoka, Blaine, Champlin Park, Coon Rapids; from Centennial ISD #12 - Centennial; from Elk River ISD #728 - Elk River; and from Osseo ISD #279 - Maple Grove, Osseo, Park Center.

Note: With more than 1,600 students taking part in the event, there will be no school that Monday for students at Park Center High School.