Friday, May. 16, 2008
GHS Band to Take Part in Olympics Festivities in China
By Scott Price
Staff Writer
Grapevine High School band and choir students are preparing to travel to China in June as part of a mass musical tribute to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
The students, led by band director Steve Andre and choir teacher Patrick Antinone, will make the trip June 9-18 to participate in the Beijing City Festival’s "Perform in Harmony — with Olympic Spirit." This festival is a salute to the Olympic Games.
Forty band members and 37 choir students will represent GHS at the festival. The band students are members of the GHS Wind Ensemble, the school’s top concert band.
The GHS students will be one of the first groups from the U.S. to participate in the celebration of the 2008 Summer Olympics, which takes place Aug. 8-24.
The students will be "music ambassadors" for the Olympics, said Antinone.
"I think that the impact for these students will be immeasurable," said Antinone.The cultural experience alone will be one of a lifetime. We are always talking about how participation in choir provides an opportunity for kids to be part of something bigger than just ourselves."
The GHS students will travel as part of a Texas delegation led by Dr. Jerry McCoy, who currently serves as director of choral studies and professor of music at The University of North Texas. McCoy will conduct a portion of the GHS concert performances.
Antinone said that the students are excited about representing their school district, community and their country. He added that he was pretty excited, too. "As a director, this is the sort of opportunity that you dream about," Antinone said. "I have been proud time and time again of the way the kids respond to these opportunities, and I have no doubt that this group of kids will respond to these opportunities."
Andre said it is difficult to imagine that in a few weeks they will be in China.
The students who are traveling to Beijing will perform several concerts. Two of the concerts will be held at large performance halls. The other concerts will be exchange concerts with Chinese high schools in both Beijing and Shanghai.
The Chinese and American students will sing and play instruments for each other, and all the GHS students will learn a Chinese song for a joint performance.
"It should be an awesome experience for our students to interact with the high school students in China," Andre said. "I am confident that the audience will be impressed with the high level of musicianship. This trip will be an experience our students [and staff] will cherish for the rest of our lives."
The group will also tour Beijing, Shanghai and take in other attractions such as the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Yu Garden, Beijing Opera and the famous Shanghai Acrobats. Dr. Jerry Hollingsworth, GHS principal, will also accompany the students.
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