Carthage presents the Lo Presti Band Festival

The Carthage College Music Department will celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Lakeside Band Festival with two concerts on Nov. 5 and 6 in the A. F. Siebert Chapel. This year's event will feature the music of Ronald Lo Presti, one of the seminal composers of the contemporary band movement. Don Young, director of bands at Horlick High School in Racine, and Woodrow Hodges, professor of music at Carthage, will serve as guest conductors and offer insight into the music and life of Mr. Lo Presti.

Mr. Young was a student of Lo Presti at Arizona State University and Dr. Hodges was a student in Winfield, Kansas, while Lo Presti served as composer-in-residence there. In addition, Alvin Lowrey, principal trumpet emeritus of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, will be featured guest soloist and perform Kent Kennan's Sonata for Trumpet with the Carthage Wind Orchestra.

Well-known works such as Lo Presti's Elegy for a Young American and Suite for Five Trumpets will be performed, as well as lesser-known compositions such as Pageant Overture, Tundra, and The Masks. Lo Presti's significance as a Ford Foundation Composer in the Winfield, Kansas, school district will be highlighted with music from his 1961 pageant KANZA (Southwind People), written to commemorate Kansas' centennial year. Fred Halgedahl, son of the Winfield music director and creator of the narrative for the KANZA pageant, will perform Lo Presti’s Nocturne for Viola on the Saturday evening program.

The concert on Nov. 5 will begin at 7:30 p.m., and will include music for chamber ensembles of various instrumentation, ranging in size from two to 10 players. Sunday's concert on Nov. 6 will begin at 3 p.m. and will feature the full band works of Lo Presti and the Kennan sonata with Alvin Lowrey, who was also a graduate of the Winfield, Kansas, public schools in 1961. Performing groups on Sunday will be the Wind Orchestra, Concert Band and the combined forces of both ensembles.

The goal of the Lakeside Band Festival is to provide an opportunity for area musicians to observe, engage and interact with world-class musicians. Each festival is conducted by a noted American composer/conductor.

Admission to both concerts is free and open to the public. Doors will open thirty minutes prior to the start of each concert.

For more information on the Lo Presti Band Festival, please contact James Ripley, jripley@carthage.edu or (262) 551-5854