This audio comes from the Minnesota Music Educators Association mid-winter clinic performance in February 2015, directed by Paul Kile.
7:15 a.m. —Samuel R. Hazo: Minnesota Portraits &mdash Across the Halfpipe
7:15 p.m. —Timothy Mahr: Imagine, if you will
Edina bands offer a home for all students who wish to grow musically, artistically, socially and technically. The Concert Band in particular programs rigorous literature to challenge students to push themselves to the highest level of musicianship. The 2015 ensemble has 97 juniors and seniors, and is Edina High School's premiere top ensemble.
The Concert Band regularly commissions new works of high merit by Minnesota composers and beyond. Listed in their most recent concert program are the 22 commissions that they have performed between 1998 and 2015, as well as the two more will be added in 2016. Three of those commissions were performed in this school year. The students even got to be involved in the creation of the work, Minnesota Portraits. Composer Samuel R. Hazo asked the students what they thought should go into a piece about Minnesota, and naturally, winter sports came up. The final movement of the piece, Across the Halfpipe, depicts a snowboarder traveling down a slope and through the halfpipe.
The students are provided with wonderful opportunities to display their talent for all sorts of audiences locally at the Fick Auditorium in Edina High School, and internationally across the seas. From the Singapore Esplanade and the Beijing Forbidden City Concert Hall over the past few years, to the Minnesota Music Educators Convention in February, and U.S. Virgin Islands this April, the Edina Concert Band certainly gets around. They will also be sharing the stage with the Rising Stars Youth Steel Drum Orchestra, a national renowned ensemble on their Virgin Islands trip.
The Edina music program is a good, safe space for students to find themselves, and develop skills for life through the medium of music. They are equally challenged and encouraged through rehearsal, performance and travel whilst bringing pride to the Edina community at home and abroad.
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