SOU Department of Performing Arts Hosts Over 100 Rogue Valley Student Musicians for High School Honor Band Weekend & Concert

(Ashland, Ore.) – Southern Oregon University’s Department of Performing Arts presents the eighteenth annual High School Honor Band event on Saturday, Feb. 2 and Sunday, Feb. 3.  Held in the SOU Music Building and climaxing with a concert on Sunday, February 3 at 1:30 pm in the Recital Hall, over one hundred selected high school band students will come together under the direction of Dr. James Klein and Dr. Cynthia Hutton, Director of Bands at SOU. The concert is open to the public and admission is free of charge.

This year Dr. Jeffrey D. Gershman, Associate Director of Bands at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, will serve as guest conductor. Gershman conducts the Jacobs School of Music Symphonic Band and teaches classes in undergraduate music education and repertoire and in graduate conducting.
Also featured for the Honor Band weekend and guest soloist for the concert is Southern Oregon University’s newest Music Faculty member, Dr. Jeffrey Richmond. Dr. Richmond is recognized as a significant voice in modern jazz composition and performance education. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree (magna cum laude) in composition at the University of South Florida in Tampa, where he studied composition with Guggenheim Fellow and Grammy nominee Chuck Owen. Richmond received his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in composition with a cognate in jazz studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Dr. Richmond has written a piece for solo trumpet and band which the SOU Honor Band will premiere at the concert. Other works include Ron Nelson’s Courtly Airs and Dances, Havener Fanfare by Andrew Boysen and John Paulson’s Epinicion.
Participants in the High School Honor Band Weekend are chosen by high school band directors, and come from schools throughout the Rogue Valley. The Recital Hall is located on South Mountain Ave., between Ashland and Henry Streets, in Ashland. For more information, visit sou.edu/music or call 541-552-6348.