Hinsdale Central Marching Band Invited to Perform at the 2016 London New Year's Day Parade

Submitted by Hinsdale Township High School District 86.

Hinsdale Township High School District 86 announced that the Hinsdale Central High School Red Devil Marching Band has been invited to participate in the 2016 London New Year’s Day Parade (LNYDP). The former Lord Mayor of The City of Westminster Duncan Sandys will formally extend the invitation at a ceremony to be held at Hinsdale Central on Tuesday, February 24 at 1 p.m.Lord Mayor Sandys, the great-grandson of Sir Winston Churchill, will be accompanied by founder and Director of the LNYDP Robert Bone.

“We are thrilled to accept the lord mayor’s invitation to participate in the London New Year’s Day Parade,” said Matt Kurinsky, Hinsdale Central band director. “All the students are elated to be performing at such a prestigious event. It is a fantastic opportunity for Hinsdale Central. We’re already working on our repertoire.”

The LNYDP organization reports that its parade is the largest event of its kind with a street audience of over 500,000 people and a worldwide television audience numbering in the hundreds of millions. According to the organization, each year a selection team comprised of music educators proposes to the festival’s steering committee a number of groups of American performers who they feel have sufficient merit and quality to be offered the opportunity of having their name put forward for invitation to the festival.

In the heart of London, the city of Westminster is home to both the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace. Appointed annually, the lord mayor of the city of Westminster is the first citizen of the city and is also host to the parade and a principal patron of the event. All those who have served as lord mayor continue to be parade patrons and to fulfill lord mayoral duties.

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