Red Carpet Honor Band performance set for Feb. 25

Northwestern Oklahoma State University will play host to the 2017 Red Carpet Honor Band on Friday and Saturday Feb. 24-25 on the Alva campus. Following a number of rehearsals, nearly 300 middle school and high school students from across northwest Oklahoma will perform in a concert Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in Herod Hall Auditorium.

This event is free and open to the public.

The students in grades seven through 12 who will participate in the honor bands were selected following a live audition at Chisholm High School this past November.

These students will form three bands: Junior High A Band, Junior High B Band and High School Band. The students will rehearse all day Friday and Saturday morning prior to Saturday’s 2 p.m. concert. The students will demonstrate what they learned over the course of two days in their performance.

Donny Longest from the Konawa public schools will be the guest conductor of the Junior High A band. Jeff Kidwell from the University of Central Oklahoma will be the guest conductor of the Junior High B Band. Frank Pankratz from Canadian High School will be the guest conductor of the High School Band.

The 37 schools with participants include: Alva, Blackwell, Buffalo, Cherokee, Chisholm, Cimarron, Crescent, Drummond, Enid High School, Enid Longfellow Jr. High, Enid Waller Jr. High, Fairview, Fargo, Garber, Hennessey, Kremlin-Hillsdale, Laverne, Medford, Mooreland, Morrison, Newkirk, Okeene, Oklahoma Bible Academy (Enid), Perry, Pioneer-Pleasant Vale, Ponca City High School, Ponca City East, Ponca City West, Pond Creek-Hunter, Ringwood, Seiling, Tonkawa, Waukomis, Watonga, Waynoka, Woodward and Woodward Middle School.

Dr. Marc Decker, assistant professor of fine arts and director of instrumental music and music education at Northwestern, looks forward to meeting prospective students from the Oklahoma area.

“We love having the event on our campus,” Decker said. “Essentially it brings in over 300 potential future Rangers to our campus every year.”

For more information on Northwestern’s instrumental music program, contact Decker at 580-327-8191 or mddecker@nwosu.edu.