On Jan. 25, Mercyhurst University will host its annual Tri-State Honor Band music festival.
This is a three-day music festival that was “designed to cater to excellent high school band musicians through exposure to outstanding clinicians and varied repertoire,” according to Scott Meier, Ph.D.
The first performance is the Mercyhurst University Prism concert, which features Mercyhurst students and will be under the direction of Meier.
It will take place Jan. 26 at 8 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center and is free and open to the public.
High school band students from around Erie County and from Ashtabula, Ohio, will be on campus for rehearsals, seminars and performances by Mercyhurst University students as soloists and in ensembles.
The high school Honor Band will give a free public performance at the end of the Tri-State Honor Band music festival.
The band will include at least two students from every school and has featured as many as 90 students from 15 schools in the past.
It will take place Jan. 27 at 2 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center.
It will be conducted by a guest clinician that has yet to be announced.
Meier notes that this experience is not only good for the high school musicians but for current Music majors as well.
“Mercyhurst music students benefit from the festival through required rehearsal observations and seminars, by staffing and administering the audition process, helping with the mailings, by performing at the Prism concert and by staffing festival events and the hotel,” Meier said.
In its 18th year, the Tri-State Honor Band music festival is an excellent opportunity for high school musicians in the area to gain exposure to a more intense level of music.