(Le Mars) — Three Gehlen Catholic students are amongst the 200 finest musicians from Iowa & Nebraska who have been selected for the 2016 Drake Honor Band Festival, December
2nd & 3rd in Des Moines. They include:
• Junior, Malayna Hanks, clarinet, daughter of Kelly & Misty Hanks of
LeMars;
• Junior, Kaitlyn Norfolk, trumpet, daughter of Robert & Lisa Norfolk of
LeMars; &
• Sophomore, trumpet, Tyler Zenk, son of Pat & Jean Zenk of Alton.
This is Tyler’s second year, Malayna & Kaitlyn’s first year performing in the Drake Honor Band.
Instrumental Music Director, Paul Niebuhr, noted Gehlen Catholic has been fortunate every year to have a number of students selected annually to perform in Drake Honor Band. According to the Drake University Instrumental Music
Department, the prestigious festival provides outstanding high school musicians with the opportunity to work with our nation’s finest conductors in large All State type ensembles. The festival also provides musicians an opportunity to improve their skills through master classes for each instrument.
The two-day festival begins this Friday & culminates Saturday evening with a concert by the two honor bands at the Harmon Fine Arts Center on the Drake University Campus. The Honors Wind Ensemble is reserved for high school seniors & members of previous Iowa All-State bands. The Honors Concert Band is composed of selected high school musicians. All three of Gehlen Catholic’s musicians were selected for the Honors Concert Band.
Each year, 500 musicians are nominated to the Drake Honor Band Festival from Iowa & Nebraska. In addition to concerts & clinics, the festival featured scholarship auditions for entrance into the music department at Drake.
Gehlen Catholic School strives to promote an openness to God, to promote a quality education & to instill Catholic values in a caring, challenging, & prayerful environment.
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