Posted: 2/5/03

FL band, choral students prepare to leave mainland

Cliff Buchan
News Editor

Europe and Hawaii will be the destination points for Forest Lake High School music students next week.

Just under 150 students and 50 adult chaperones are departing the Forest Lake area for concert/study excursions to the east and west.

A 13-day, 12-night concert study tour to Europe by band students departs Forest Lake on Wednesday, Feb. 12 and returns on Monday, Feb. 24. Director Richard Hahn will lead the delegation that includes 75 students and 29 adults.

Choral directors James Lindstrom and Michelle Lynch will guide a delegation of 62 choral students and 21 adult chaperones to the Hawaiian Islands. The choral group departs Thursday, Feb. 13 and returns on Thursday, Feb. 20.

For the public wishing to see the travel delegations in actions, two bon voyage concerts are being planned.

Students taking part in the European Concert Tour will perform their music program during a concert at 7:30 p.m., Monday, Feb. 10 at Forest Lake High School. The free concert is open to the public.

A concert by the choral students is scheduled for 3 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 9 in the high school auditorium. Selections to be performed at concerts in Hawaii will be presented during this free concert. The public is invited.

Board update

The two directors went before the ISD 831 School Board on Monday to update officials on the upcoming trips.

Hahn reported the band will perform four concerts during its journey to Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria. The band will also stop in Reykjavik, Iceland on its return to the United States.

In planning the 2003 trip, Hahn said the goal was to achieve a balance of learning activities with fun. Much of the trip will include structured activities, but free time for students is included, he said.

The initial destination is Wurzburg, Germany. Between Feb. 13-22, the band will visit several cities in Germany and travel to Prague in the Czech Republic and visit Salzburg, Austria.

The visit to Germany will include a tour of Mozartís birthplace at Salzburg Dom. During the stop in Prague, students will visit the historic city where Mozart lived and worked for many years. While in Prague, the delegation will hear the Prague Symphony Orchestra.

History will also be prevalent in the itinerary.

In Nurnberg, students will visit Zeppelinfeld, the parade grounds where Adolph Hitler addressed large Nazi rallies. The group will also visit the Mauthausen Concentration Camp, a grim reminder of the Holocaust of World War II.

Hawaii update

Choral students will also blend historical and educational activities with a chance to have some fun during the one-week visit to Hawaii.

The choral groupís first stop is in Honolulu. Students will perform on their first full day in Hawaii. A performance is slated at Ala Moana, billed as the worldís largest open-air shopping center with more than 200 speciality stores.

On Feb. 15, the delegation will visit Pearl Harbor, the historic location where the Japanese sneak attack on Dec. 7, 1941 thrust the United States into World War II.

The delegation will visit the USS Arizona Memorial, the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and Park and the Punchbowl Crater where the National Memorial Cemetery is the resting place for 27,000 U.S. war dead.

The group will perform at the Waterfront Memorial.

The singers will have a chance to hear the Royal Hawaiian Band and tour the Polynesian Cultural Center. On Feb. 16, the students will attend a clinic and workshop at the University of Hawaii under the direction of Dr. Karen Kennedy.

ìHopefully, theyíll (students) have a better understanding of our 50th state,î Lindstrom said on Monday.

On behalf of the school board, President Bill Bresin wished the two travel delegations a ìsafe and fruitful trip.î

The band and choral group trips come during the mid-winter break in ISD 831 which is slated Feb. 17-21.

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