Pair of Eisenhower groups deliver at Midwest Music Festival

BLUE ISLAND, IL — The Concert Band and Symphonic Band from Eisenhower High School both delivered sterling performances at the Midwest Music Festival at Lemont High School this past weekend.

Both groups earned straight Division I ratings, the highest possible, from all judges. In addition, Concert Band won Best Percussion in their class and the Symphonic Band won Best Brass, Best Woodwinds, and Best Percussion, AND 1st Place in their class!

The awards closed a great week for the Eisenhower band program. Dr. Sean Kelly invited Symphonic Band to play with The Naperville Winds at Wentz Hall on the campus of North Central College. From the organization's web site:

"On Thursday, February 23rd, The Naperville Winds will showcase music from the beginning of the wind band as an art-music ensemble in earnest (i.e., the British Band Classics of the 1900s and ’10s) to the explosion of the percussion section in the 1990s. In between, we’ll explore the jazz influence the ’20s, ’30s, and ’40s, the post-war commercial era of the ’50s and ’60s, and the exploration of color, texture, and extended techniques of the ’60’s, ’70s, and ’80s.

With Special Guest Ensemble, the Dwight D. Eisenhower High School Wind Ensemble, Mr. Justin Antos, conductor."

"Congratulations to the Eisenhower Symphonic Band on giving the performance of a lifetime at the BEAUTIFUL Wentz Concert Hall," Dr. Anto said.

The Naperville Winds comprises talented musicians from across Chicagoland and beyond. It is the ensemble’s mission to promote, through programming and commissioning, the very best wind band repertoire from a diverse array of styles, time periods, and composers.

Dr. Justin Antos serves as band director at Eisenhower.