Community Concert on May 3: “Let Your Spirit Soar” on Music Monday

Community concert features bands from Lasalle and Sudbury Secondary School

A community concert will be held on Monday, May 3rd, 2010 (Music Monday) in support of the Joan Mantle Music Trust. The concert, to feature instrumental and choral groups from Lasalle Secondary School and Sudbury Secondary School, will take place at the Sudbury Secondary School Sheridan Auditorium at 7:30 pm. Tickets, at $10 for adults/seniors and $5 for students/children, are available at the participating schools.

“This concert is our way of saying thanks to the community for its generous contributions to the Joan Mantle Music Trust,” said Rainbow District School Board Arts Education Co-ordinator Ralph McIntosh. “It is also an opportunity for us to salute Music Monday, a Canada-wide celebration of publicly funded music education, and to raise money for the Trust so schools can continue to benefit from the purchase of new instruments for students in Rainbow Schools.”

Lasalle Secondary School will feature its Senior Concert Band, Intermediate Concert Band, Senior Jazz Band, Junior Jazz Band as well as the Lasalle Orchestra, Guitar Ensemble and Choir. “At this year’s Music Monday, Lasalle Secondary School will premier not one, but three original pieces of music,” says music teacher Roger Finlay. “With two Jazz bands, two Concert Bands, a Guitar Ensemble, a Vocal Ensemble, and an Orchestra, Lasalle is bringing its award-winning groups to celebrate Music Monday in style, all in support of the Joan Mantle Music Trust. We invite the entire community to join us.”

Lasalle teacher Marc Savard, conductor of the Intermediate Concert Band, composed the energetic Ode to Clarence and Doc for his Guitar Ensemble. The piece is a tribute to guitar greats Doc Watson and Clarence White. It was performed for the first time at the recent Northern Ontario Music Festival and helped the group win Gold.

Peter Scherzinger, director of Lasalle Secondary School’s Jazz Ensembles, wrote Start for the Vocal Ensemble. This modern piece of music displays the textures and sounds of the Gold medal group. Monday will be the premier of this song about spring.

The Lasalle Secondary School Orchestra, the only one of its kind in Northern Ontario, will play Bound for Northern Ontario. Local singer-songwriter Andrew Lowe composed the piece, which was recently put to orchestral music by Roger Finlay. Joining the Orchestra will be the Vocal Ensemble with Andrew Lowe singing the solo.

Sudbury Secondary School will feature its Senior Concert Band, the Jazz Combo, the Brass Quintet, the Vocal Jazz Ensemble, the Monster Choir and the Senior Vocal Class. “The Sudbury Secondary School Music Department mined precious medals at the Northern Ontario Music Festival,” says music teacher Carolyn Otto. “We welcome this opportunity to share our award-winning performances with the community in support of the Joan Mantle Music Trust.”

At the Northern Ontario Music Festival, the Intermediate and Senior Choirs received Bronze and Silver respectively and earned an invitation to MusicFest Canada.  The Jazz Combo came away with a Gold Award and an invitation to perform at the national Musicfest Canada, to be held in Ottawa from May 17 to 22, 2010. Both the Sudbury Secondary School NorthStar Concert Band and the new Sudbury Secondary School Brass Quintet gave very fine performances as well, bringing home two Silver Awards.

In recognition of their excellent individual performances in the Concert Band category at the Northern Ontario Music Festival, eight members of the Sudbury Secondary School Band were nominated to perform in the NOMF All Star Honour Band. They included Stacy Fleming (flute), Patrick Cook (clarinet), Kandace McIlveen (clarinet), Mitchell McIntyre (alto sax), Thomas Flake (trumpet), Ivy-Lynn Saile (euphonium), Isaac Lehman (percussion) and Steve Durocher (percussion). Charlene Chaput (tenor sax) was also named as first alternate.

The Joan Mantle Music Trust was established last fall to help refresh, modernize and revitalize school music programs in the Rainbow District School Board.  The Joan Mantle Music Trust allocates funds to school music programs in Rainbow District School Board, one school at a time.  This ensures that there is a tangible improvement in the condition of equipment in an entire department, allowing for students to achieve more in their musical studies together.

Joan Mantle dedicated many years to music education in Rainbow Schools. She passed away on June 9, 2009, after a courageous battle with cancer. For more information about the Joan Mantle Music Trust, visit rainbowschools.ca.

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Media Contact:

Ralph McIntosh, Arts Education Coordinator,
Rainbow District School Board, 705.674.7551, ext. 6850