ISSUED: 25 January 2024
MEDIA CONTACT: Cecelia Mason
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — The recent High School Honor Music Festival concert performed at the Frank Arts Center Theater for an audience of 400 was a huge success. The weekend workshop for students included an Honor Wind Ensemble, Honor Jazz Ensemble, and Honor Choir. The 19th annual Festival took place January 12-14 and more than 120 high school students nominated by their music teachers from private and public schools in Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia participated.
The weekend started with an opening jazz concert featuring the Shepherd Jazz band on Friday night and ended with a spectacular performance from all three ensembles after only a little more than a day of rehearsal. The conductors for the Honor Music Festival were Dr. Scott Hippensteel (Wind Ensemble), Dr. Kurtis Adams (Jazz Ensemble), and Dr. Steven Grives (Choir).
Dr. Thomas Caneva was the guest conductor for the Honor Wind Ensemble; Kevin Woods was the guest conductor for the Honor Jazz Ensemble; and Dr. Jeremy Mims was the guest conductor for the Honor Choir.
Caneva, who has been a music educator for 43 years, is the director of bands and coordinator of the graduate wind conducting program at Ball State University in Indiana. Woods, a trumpet player and composer, is the director of jazz studies at Western Washington University in Washington state. Mims is the director of choral music at Winthrop University in South Carolina.
Congratulations to Shepherd’s ensemble directors and staff and the School of Music students, some of whom are freshmen—as the collective musical experience was enjoyed by proud parents, families, and friends.
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