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Band Day to feature alumnus conductor

By David Gonnerman '90
November 8, 2007

The St. Olaf Department of Music will host its annual Festival of Bands gathering Saturday, Nov. 10, featuring Ken Hakoda '96, music director/conductor of the Salina Symphony in Salina, Kan. Also known as Band Day, this year's event will pair some 160 top high school instrumentalists with the St. Olaf Band and Norseman Band for a day-long workshop. The festival will culminate with a free public concert in Skoglund Center Auditorium at 4 p.m.

The performance will be streamed live and archived online.

QianJun07
Qian
Other conductors for the event are Timothy Mahr '78, conductor of the St. Olaf Band, and Paul Niemisto, conductor of the college's Norseman Band. Guest soloist will be new St. Olaf faculty member Jun Qian, clarinet.

Student participants will rehearse and perform a concert under Hakoda's direction. In addition to being an accomplished composer, Hakoda also is director of choral activities and assistant professor of music at Kansas Wesleyan University, where he teaches choir, music education and music theory classes.

The program will begin with a performance by the Norseman Band, followed by the Festival Band and the St. Olaf Band. Three of Hakoda's pieces will be performed during the concert, including the premiere performance of Prairie Sunrise, which was commissioned for the event by the Miles Johnson Endowment. Also on the program are Noble Element by Mahr and the classic First Suite in E-flat by Gustav Holst. Qian will perform Concerto for Clarinet and Symphonic Band by John Heins.

In addition to being named 2003 Outstanding Young Band Director by the Kansas Bandmaster Association, Hakoda has won a number of composition awards and honors, including the 1998 Claude T. Smith Phi Beta Mu Composition Contest for Sala Ya Tanzania, a work he wrote for the St. Olaf Band 1996 tour to Norway.

Many musicians
A St. Olaf tradition for more than 30 years, this year's festival will create an all-state band that includes 160 performers from across Minnesota. As part of the selection process, band conductors from 60 high schools nominate top students from their ensembles. Candidates are then reviewed and chosen by Timothy Mahr '78, conductor of the St. Olaf Band.

The Festival of Bands is a unique opportunity for college and high school band members to connect. According to Rich Erickson '66, assistant director of music organizations, the festival gives St. Olaf students -- particularly those studying music education -- a chance to work in close proximity with high school students under a different conductor.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.