YHS Wind Ensemble Preparing for SuperState

One might say Yorkville High School’s wind ensemble is in a race against itself.

The 42-piece group is learning new music to perform May 5 at the prestigious Illinois SuperState Concert Band Festival, which is hosted by the University of Illinois Bands department. Only eight bands statewide in the Class AA (schools with 801 to 1,600 students) were accepted this year.

“It’s been a career goal of mine,” band director Victor Anderson said. “We’re going to be amongst the most elite bands in the state, so it’s really exciting.”

The audition process involved hiring a recording engineer. Then, the ensemble met three times outside school, brought in clinicians and added a few more percussionists to prepare for the May 5 event. They’ll perform for 20 minutes in the Foellinger Great Hall at the Krannert Center for Performing Arts in Urbana.

It’s been a whirlwind process that Anderson hopes his students enjoy.

“We’re better than we were when we made that recording in February,” he said. “So it only makes sense educationally that we move on to harder literature. So we kind of started over on April 1 for a May 5 performance.”

They’ll perform a dry run of the music Saturday at a concert band festival in Plainfield. 

At Super State, college music professors and other high school band directors – who Anderson said are “some of the harshest critics in the state” - will provide feedback. Regardless of what they say, Anderson is encouraging his students to cherish the moments along the way.

“Obviously, we’re working really hard to prepare for that performance,” Anderson said. “But the celebrating has already begun.”

Click on this link at 9:30 a.m. May 5 to hear the wind ensemble perform live.