French Horn player Peter Reit will perform at WVHS Pops Concert on Feb. 25

WARWICK —French Horn player Peter Reit will be the guest artist for the Warwick Valley High School Music Department's annual Pops Concert scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 25, at 7 p.m. in the high school.

Students work with master musicians

For more than a decade the Music Department has held a Pops Concert featuring a variety of talented musicians from throughout the Hudson Valley, including several who have played on Broadway, at the Metropolitan Opera and in well-known national ensembles.

The Pops Concert typically highlights popular musical selections.

Director of Bands Chris Persad looks forward to the Pops Concert as one of his favorites each year.

"Our student musicians are privileged to once again be exposed to a master musician in both an educational and performance setting," he said, "and the audience will enjoy the lighter musical fare."

An international performer, soloist and educator, Reit is a charter musician of the Broadway hit "Phantom of the Opera."

He is the principal horn player in the Westchester Philharmonic, Greenwich Symphony and Scandia Symphony Orchestras. Reit toured extensively with the American Symphony and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestras, under the direction of Maestro James Levine.

In addition to being one of the most in-demand freelance principal horn players in Manhattan, Reit is professor of horn at SUNY Purchase and is also on the faculty at Vassar College.

Program
Reit will be featured with the WVHS Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Persad as they perform Camille Saint-Saens' Concert Piece Op. 94.

He will also perform with the Jazz Band.

The concert will include a variety of selections from the entire Music Department. Under the direction of Noreen Hanson, the Meistersingers, the select mixed choral group, as well as the Women's Choir will perform.

The Women's Choir will join the WVHS Jazz Band for one of their pieces.

The Chamber Strings and Symphony Orchestra will combine to play Avicii's "Wake Me Up," which has been arranged by orchestra conductor Keely Blaikner. The WVHS Wind Ensemble will then join the orchestra as they play "Star Wars Epic Part II," the popular movie theme written by John Williams.

The entire band program will fill the stage to play "The Dark Knight," by Hans Zimmer, from the Batman movie series.

The Pops Concert is open to the public and free of charge.

The snow date is Thursday, Feb. 27.