Christy Wilson-Smith from Black Hawk Middle School in Warrenton was among those set to play in the UMSL performance hall.
The annual Des Lee Middle School Music Festival will feature a day of clinics and rehearsals with University of Missouri-St. Louis music faculty members and culminate with a performance that night. The concert will begin at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 18 in the Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall at UMSL’s Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center. The evening performance is free and open to the public.
The concert will feature performances of a wide variety of music ranging from standard classical work by Mozart and others to American and European folksongs, spirituals and other contemporary compositions. Wilson-Smith, James MacKay from Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis and Todd Ponder, former music educator and now assistant principal at Rebecca Boone Elementary School in Warrenton, will serve as guest conductors.
Missouri school districts represented during the concert will include St. Louis, the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Ferguson-Florissant, Hazelwood, Jennings, Lindbergh, Normandy, Orchard Farm, Ritenour, University City, Warrenton and Wright City.
The Touhill is on UMSL’s North Campus, One University Blvd. in St. Louis, Mo. 63121. The concert is sponsored by the Department of Music at UMSL and the Des Lee Fine Arts Education Collaborative. Visit http://desleefinearts.org/ or call 314-516-5980 for more information.
Reviewed 2013-01-23