Racine Concert Band performing with Walden High School groups
RACINE — The Racine Concert Band continues its Education Outreach Program with a performance Tuesday, Oct. 22, at Washington Park High School.
The 7 p.m. concert at the school, 1901 12th St. in Racine, starts the 20th year of the program.
The City of Racine's official band — made up of adult musicians from this area — performs with Racine Unified School District student musicians in these concerts. The relationship benefits both the adult and the student musicians, said Racine Concert Band Conductor Mark Eichner.
The Racine Concert Band Education Outreach Program started in 2005 with a single collaborative concert at Horlick High School and now features joint concerts with four high school bands and the RUSD Lighthouse Brigade summer band, along with in-class instruction at RUSD high schools.
Starting in October 2023, the program expanded to include Walden School students. Tuesday's concert is at Park High School, but the Walden High School Band is performing.
Laura Shapovalov directs music at Walden, which is a "choice school" in the Racine school system.
Tuesday night, the high school groups will perform first.
The Walden Orchestra will perform Charles Gounod's 1872 piece "Funeral March of a Marionette" (which some audience members are likely to recognize as the theme song for "Alfred Hitchcock Presents"), "Somewhere Out There" from the animated film "An American Tail," and "My Girl" by Smokey Robinson and Ronald White.
The school's band will play "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" and "The Star Wars Saga" by John Williams.
The school's jazz band will also perform.
Racine Concert Band
The Racine Concert Band's portion of the program will include Alfred Reed's "El Camino Real," David Maslanka's "Morning Star," Eric Whitacre's "October" and Malcolm Arnold's "Four Cornish Dances."
The band's two central works, "Morning Star" and "October," were written "by composers whose music I've been performing for decades, so it's a lot like meeting up with an old friend when I prepare these scores," Eichner said. "Both Eric Whitacre and David Maslanka are living composers of the modern era who have developed their own unique language, yet they have a strong connection with the history, traditions and idioms of our musical past."
"Morning Star" is "a happy, perpetual motion piece," Eichner said. "It's the music of youth, hope, a new dawn and new beginnings."
In contrast, Eichner describes "October" as "a lush and pastoral tone poem in the tradition of 20th century British composers, with fresh, soaring melodies and musical treatments of the 21st century."
Eichner, who has directed the Racine Concert Band since 2002, will also lead the combined bands in the concert finale, Charles Gounod's "Festive Dance" from "Faust."
Admission is free thanks to in-kind contributions by the Racine Unified School District and financial support from the Music Performance Trust Fund, the City of Racine, the Racine Community Foundation, the Harri Hoffmann Family Foundation, the Wisconsin Arts Board, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Lang Family Foundation, SC Johnson and the Col. L.C. Christensen Charitable and Religious Foundation.
Features/GO Kenosha
