Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Hillsdale College’s Jazz Big Band will perform their annual concert featuring this year’s guest artist, trumpet player Walter White. “This will be an exciting concert,” senior Big Band trumpetist Conor Woodfin said. “For most people attending, Walter White will be the best trumpet player they will ever hear. He...
Category: Howard Hall of Music
Allegro and laughter
Laughter fills the vast expanse of McNamara Rehearsal Hall, bouncing off stacks of chairs, bleachers, paneled walls, and floor-to-ceiling window panes. Stray rays of sunlight escape from unhappy clouds and reflect off the metallic surfaces of a bassoon, a clarinet, a flute, a French horn, and an oboe — tools of the trade for the...
A 20-year crescendo in the music department
This weekend, 170 members of the Hillsdale College music department’s symphony orchestra and two choirs will participate in three performances of George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah.” One-third of the school — roughly 500 students — regularly participate in the music department and one-quarter are members of ensembles. In 1997, however, only 50 students were in the...
Follow your harp: Musician finds harp after 40-year search
Diane Dunn knew her long-lost harp was somewhere behind Yorba Linda Street’s mile of locked doors. So she started ringing doorbells. She had recently found her first clues in 40 years: the street name, and an empty harp case with her name on it. Diane Dunn’s search for her lost harp didn’t end on Yorba...
Hillcats out of the bag: College jazz ensemble recording new album
Gianna Marchese and the Hillcats will be singin’ and swingin’ their way through the 2016-2017 school year in preparation for the release of their newest album next fall. The Hillcats, the college’s faculty jazz band, will record their spin on a collection of American standards, featuring Marchese, a senior, as their jazz vocalist....