High school wind ensemble, Richard Kimball perform ‘Rhapsody In Blue' on Wednesday

Warwick - The Warwick Valley High School Music Department’s third annual Pops Concert will be held Wednesday, Feb. 22, at the Theatre at Warwick Valley High School and will feature performances by the Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, Symphony Orchestra, Jazz Band and Meistersingers. The guest artist will be pianist/composer Richard Kimball, who lives, composes and records with his wife and two sons in Warwick. This free concert is open to the public. The concert will begin with the High School Jazz Band, a group of students chosen through an audition process and who meet once a week after school. The students learn the various elements and styles, including improvisation. Kimball will sit in with them for this performance. Every year for the Pops Concert, the string orchestra is joined by members of the band to form a Symphony Orchestra. Under the direction of teacher Keely Gould, the Symphony Orchestra will perform selections from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera.” Kimball also will be the accompanist for the Meistersingers. New to the Pops Concert this year, the Meistersingers are a select vocal group at the high school and Lois Heller has chosen several jazz selections to showcase her accomplished vocalists, including “Blue Moon,” “Java Jive” and “No Words.” Next, the performance by the Warwick Valley High School Concert Band will feature a selection from “The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring.” The Wind Ensemble, a select band chosen through auditions, is new to the high school music program. The ensemble will perform Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro” to open their portion of the concert. The finale of the evening will spotlight the Wind Ensemble as they perform Gershwin’s demanding “Rhapsody in Blue” with Kimball as the solo pianist. Director of Bands Chris Persad acknowledged the progress the members of the ensemble have made as they worked through the piece with Kimball in rehearsals and feels that the audience will be delighted when they hear the work done by these dedicated musicians. Again, the concert is free and open to the public.