Middleton High School Band and Orchestra Parent Association

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MHS Seven O’Clock Jazz Band performs with JLCO Trumpeter Kenny Rampton

WHITEWATER, Wisconsin – November 9th, 2019 –

Middleton High School's Seven O’Clock Jazz Band performed at UW Whitewater’s Jazz Night on Saturday, November 9th.  The gala concert featured Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra trumpeter Kenny Rampton who performed with Middleton High School’s Seven O’Clock Jazz Band, Beloit Memorial High School’s Jazz Ensemble, and UW Whitewater Jazz Ensemble I, featuring music by Duke Ellington, Horace Silver, Frank Mantooth, and more.

Kenny Rampton also visited MHS earlier this past week, where he gave master classes to all the MHS jazz ensembles.  Mr. Rampton has been a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra since 2010. He also leads his own sextet as well as performs with many big bands and jazz orchestras.  His vast career includes touring the world with The Ray Charles Orchestra in 1990 and with the legendary drummer Panama Francis. Most recently, he was hired as the trumpet voice on Sesame Street.  Some of his Broadway credits include The Wiz, Chicago:The Musical, The Heights, Hair, Young Frankenstein, and The Producers.  It was truly an honor for our students to have the opportunity to learn from and play with Kenny Rampton.

(Photo Credit: Dr. Michael Hackett)

Photos below: Kenny Rampton, Director Doug Brown, MHS Seven O’Clock Jazz Band

Press Release:

MHS Students to Perform in WSMA State Honors Music Ensembles

MIDDLETON, Wisconsin – October 15, 2019 – More than twenty MHS band, orchestra, and choir students will be performing in this year’s Wisconsin State Music Association’s State Honors concerts.  These students auditioned and were selected last year, then attended the WSMA State Honors Summer Camp where they met their conductor, learned their music, and rehearsed as a newly formed ensemble.  These ensembles are set to reconvene October 24th and 25th to perform and celebrate their achievements.

On Thursday, October 24, 2019, at Overture Hall, The Honors Band and Orchestra Concert will perform at 4:30, and the Honors Mixed Choir and Treble Choir Concert will perform at 8:00 pm.  Tickets are available through Overture Center Ticket Office.  

On Friday, October 25, 2019, at the Monona Terrace in the Madison Ballroom, The Honors Jazz Ensemble will perform at 11:30 am.  Tickets are available online through PurplePass.

The WSMA State Honors Music Project is nationally recognized as one of the finest musical opportunities for young people. Congratulations to the following MHS student musicians performing in these ensembles:

MHS students performing in the State Honors Orchestra include Jonah Guse (violin), Abhav Soni (clarinet), Amanda Zhu (clarinet), Alex Ashley (trumpet), and Akshita Pattnaik (violin).

MHS students performing in the State Honors Concert Band include Aria Djamali (clarinet), Holly Fullerton (french horn), Kyra Ginsberg (trumpet), Max Balasubramaniam (percussion), Erica Collin (bassoon), Ella Hursh (flute), Sophia Patton (clarinet), Noah Petersen (trombone), Katie Stockhausen (trumpet), and Ben Foster (alto sax).

MHS students performing in the State Honors Jazz Ensemble include Jonathan Downs (tenor sax), Jude Fleischman (drum set), Jack Ohly (trombone), and Andrew Stine (alto sax).

MHS students performing in the State Honors Mixed and Treble Choir include Michael Chiaverini (mixed), Ava DeCroix (mixed), and Elizabeth Engle (treble).

Wisconsin Public Television (WPT) will be recording the High School State Honors Concerts at Overture Hall again this year. A special one hour compilation of the 2019 State Honors Concerts will be broadcast on Monday, December 30 at 8:00 p.m. Additional dates to be announced. The recordings of the full concerts will be available on the Young Performers Initiative website beginning Friday, October 25.

L-R (back) Ben Foster, Jude Fleischman, Jack Ohly, Erica Collin, Kyra Ginsberg, Sophia Patton, Alex Ashley, Max Balasubramaniam, Jonah Guse, Michael Chiaverini, Katie Stockhausen

L-R (front) Andrew Stine, Jonathan Downs, Ella Hursch, Elizabeth Engle, Ava DeCroix, Akshita Pattnaik, Ben Fagre, Amanda Zhu (missing from photo: Abhav Soni, Aria Djamali, Holly Fullerton, Noah Peterson).

Mr. Brown is a quarterfinalist for Grammy Music Educator of the Year.

For more information, please visit www.grammy.com/grammys/news/2020-music-educator-award-quarterfinalists-announced