The Heisey Wind Ensemble (HWE) will continue their 2001-2002 concert season with a concert at 3 p.m. on Sunday (Feb. 24) at Swasey Chapel on the Denison University campus in Granville.

Music Director Richard Blatti has selected "Carnival of the Animals" for this concert, which will be a family concert with music for the kids to grandparents. Dennis Kohler will join the HWE as Master of Ceremonies, and the Second Presbyterian Church Music Makers will perform, as will dancers from Licking Heights High School. The audience will be invited to learn to sign a song, and then join in with the HWE to perform it.

Selections include "Under the Double Eagle", "The Flight of the Bumble Bee," "Snakes!" Blue Goose Rag," Highlights from "The Lion King," "Beatles Medley," "The Elephant" and more.

In preparing this family concert, a first for the HWE, Blatti is trying to create an opportunity for children to hear music that is familiar to them, is entertaining, and offers an educational setting. Dennis Kohler, master of ceremonies, is known to Licking County audiences from his extensive work in local theater. Kohler is an art teacher in the Newark City Schools.

Joining the HWE for "Wimoweh" will be the Second Presbyterian Church Music Makers, a church-based community group sponsored by Second Presbyterian Church of Newark. The group's motto is to "Glorify and enjoy God through music." The Music Makers consists of 14 students in fifth through eighth grade. Orff Schulwerk (schoolwork) is experienced by all. Orff Schulwerk is based on what comes naturally -singing, chanting, clapping, dancing and playing instruments. The arrangement performed during the Heisey Wind Ensemble concert utilizes both unpitched percussion (i.e. drums, shakers, etc.) and pitched percussion (mallet Orff instruments which are similar to marimbas of various sizes and are made from wood or metal.)

Tickets are available at the door; cost is $10 for adults, $5 for seniors and students, and students under 12 are free. A special of $15 for a family is offered for this concert. Denison University faculty, staff and students are admitted free with their Denison University ID. Area band directors have free student passes available for their students.

The remaining concerts in this season include "Two Thumbs Up!" on April 13th (8:00 pm) and "The Birth of Freedom" on July 3rd (7:00 pm). For more information about these concerts, or information about the HWE Patron Program, please contact Doug Moran at 740/344-8333.

The Heisey Wind Ensemble was formed in February of 1985 by J M Day and Don Workman to provide an outlet for skilled musicians interested in playing traditional concert band literature. The group is sponsored in part by the Denison University Music Department. The Heisey Wind Ensemble and Denison have been working together since September 1986 to provide Denison students with a quality concert band to perform with and to provide the Central Ohio area with a concert band to enjoy. Last year the Heisey Wind Ensemble was selected (via audition) as one of three adult groups from across the state of Ohio to perform at the Ohio Music Education Association's annual conference. The ensemble's performance drew critical acclaim as one of the highlights of the conference.

In assuming the duties as Heisey Wind Ensemble's Music Director seven Years ago, Richard Blatti reestablished a connection with community bands that Had been a consistent feature of his 25 year musical career, both as a performer and as a conductor. Currently serving The Ohio State University as associate professor of conducting and associate director of bands, he conducts the Symphonic Band and supervises all aspects of the undergraduate conducting curriculum at the School of Music. Under his direction, OSU bands have performed for conferences at the national, state, and regional levels, have recorded under the Delos label, and have been featured in numerous clinics and symposia. Blatti is the 1991 recipient of the School of Music Distinguished Teaching Award.

A graduate of Northwestern University, with two degrees in Music Education, he has done post-graduate work in conducting at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University. Before joining OSU, Blatti was an associate professor of music at Albion College (Mich.), where he was selected the Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year in 1986. An avid proponent of the community band movement, Blatti co-founded the Albion Community Band in 1980 and has served in various capacities in similar organizations in Michigan, Illinois, Texas, Minnesota, and Ohio. As guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator, Blatti has been invited to 25 states, Canada, England, The Netherlands, France, Belgium, Australia, and China. He was inducted into the prestigious American Bandmasters Association in 1997 and continues to be a leader in the College Band Directors National Association, the Big Ten Band Directors Association, the John P. Paynter Foundation, and the Ohio Music Educators Association.

For more information about the Heisey Wind Ensemble, please contact Doug Moran at 740-344-8333 or (morand@denison.edu).

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

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