High School Orchestra 2008

The corrected versions of the 2008 SCKMEA Orchestra string section are now posted and available at the links below.

• 2008 SCKMEA High School Honor Orchestra String Section Roster
• 2008 SCKMEA High School Honor Orchestra Wind/Percussion Section Roster
• 2008 SCKMEA High School Honor Orchestra Clinician Biography

Congratulations on your selection to the 2008 SCKMEA Festival Orchestra. The orchestra will meet for one day only on Saturday, December 6, 2008 in Wichita State University's Duerksen Fine Arts Center. We will tune at 7:55 a.m. on stage in Miller Concert Hall. Please be early. The orchestra concert is in the Miller Auditorium at 6:00 p.m.

Music will be selected from the Carmen Suites No. 1 and No. 2. Practice copies are attached to this letter. Originals will be available on December 6. Please be careful with the parts. Original parts are not to leave the rehearsal/performance areas at any time!

Your conductor will be David Neely, Director of Orchestral Activities at the University of Kansas. Dr. Neely brings extensive international professional experience to the job, having worked as a conductor in Germany for over 10 years. Equally at home in the symphonic and operatic areas, he has led concerts with the Bochum Symphony, the Dortmund Philharmonic, the Vorarlberg Symphony, The University of Texas Symphony and performances at the opera houses of Bonn, Dortmund, Saarbrucken, Coburg, St. Gallen, Bielefeld, Kaisersautern, Halle, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Sarasota. He holds degrees in piano performance and orchestral conducting from Indiana University and pursued post-graduate study in orchestral conducting at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music under Gerhard Samuel. To view a more complete bio, please see the south central district website at www.sckmea.org.

As the number of top-level string performers in the SCKMEA area increases, so increases the honor of being selected for this orchestra. Please be sure your preparation reflects this distinction. I'd like to note that there are a number of transposition opportunities in orchestral wind playing. One example would be the trumpet and possibly clarinet parts in the 2nd Carmen Suite. Be sure to check the instrumentation in your parts as well, as some of you may be called to play more than one instrument (One Example: Oboe & English Horn). All of this is part of being an orchestral wind player. Percussionists need to provide their own mallets/sticks and small percussion items such as triangle, tambourine, etc. WSU will provide the large percussion equipment such as timpani, bass drum and cymbals. If you have questions, please ask your teacher for assistance prior to December 6th. In addition to practicing the music, please come to rehearsal on a good night's sleep with all the proper equipment (instrument included), a clearly marked folding music stand, and a pencil. Black Manhasset stands will be available only in the concert hall. Concert dress is black suit, white shirt, black socks and shoes, and conservative tie for gentlemen; and long black dress or dress blouse and slacks, black closed-toe shoes and conservative hose for ladies.

Lunch will be provided. There will be a short break to change in the afternoon but not long enough to allow you to leave the site. Vending machines are available during the breaks, but no food or drink is allowed in the rehearsal room or Miller Concert Hall.

The complete listing of orchestra membership will be on the SCKMEA web site at http://www.sckmea.org. A detailed schedule will also be available on the web site.

Sincerely,
Kristy Smith - SCKMEA Orchestra Chair