Strathmore High Musicians Heading ‘Down Under’
By Esther Avila, The Porterville Recorder, Calif.
May 31–STRATHMORE — Strathmore High School’s Chamber Wind Ensemble will be doing something no other SHS band members have ever done — travel to Australia to premiere unpublished music of a famous composer.
The 13 band members will attend “Premiering Sydney” — a festival that will include a performance on the Sydney Opera House stage to premiere a piece by internationally-renowned composer Frank Ticheli.
“Being a part of a world premiere is a life long memory,” band director Lisa Buringrud said. “I like this program because it is noncompetitive.”
Buringrud has been at SHS for three years but prior to this year, the band had not been ready to participate in such an event, she said.
“This is exciting for me because they got to a point where they’re ready to try something like this,” Buringrud said. “They have already played a couple of [Ticheli's] pieces — Shenandoah and A Shaker Gift Song medley — so they have a connection. The concert will consist of the world premiere, and in addition each school will have their own debut performance of 20 minutes.”
Strathmore High will combine with the Savannah Arts Music Academy for its 20-minute performance.
The new piece “Angels in the Architecture” will be performed by all of the bands on July 6 — after only one rehearsal together on July 4.
The band said they saw the sheet music for the first time on Monday. They have never heard it because there is no recorded music to accompany it.
“We’re going to work really hard to learn it,” Jaime Paredes said. “Frank Ticheli will be conducting. We are all looking forward to working with such a renowned composer.”
With fundraising behind them, the band has less than a month to learn and practice the music but Buringrud said she has been working on the project since January 2007.
“I’m grateful for all of the donations that we have received but if it were not for a handful of [large] donations, we couldn’t do it,” Buringrud said.
Donations of $1,000 were received from Allen Ishida and the Tulare County Board of Supervisors, Kiwanis Club of Lindsay, Lane Engineers, Inc, Rosemary Spruce, and D.J. Conley. In addition, Juni Fisher donated $4,000 from a benefit concert and Bank of the Sierra donated $5,000.
“The band program has been dormant for 20 years,” Buringrud said. “That is a long time to have nothing happening.”
Something will definitely happen June 30. That is the day the band departs from San Francisco. They will cross the international dateline and arrive in Sydney, Australia on July 2.
“It’s going to be a heck of a trip,” John Warson said. “We’ve been to Disneyland and Magic Mountain, but never anywhere like this. This is the biggest trip ever in the school’s history.”
–Contact Esther Avila at 784-5000, Ext. 1047 or eavila@portervillerecorder.com
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