The World Music Center in the West Virginia University College of Creative Arts will present a special Youth World Music Concert this year, featuring steel drum and African ensembles from eight local high schools, middle schools and elementary schools.
The concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 9, in the Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre of the Creative Arts Center.
Directed by Gordon Nunn, music professor and director of the World Music Center, the concert will feature several steel drum ensembles, including Teal Steel of Frankfort Middle School in Ridgeley, W.Va.; the Westwood Panhandlers of Westwood Middle School in Westover; Waynesburg Pandemonium Steel Ensemble of Waynesburg ( Pa. ) Central High School; and the Uniontown (Pa.) High School Steel Drum Ensemble.
The concert will also feature African ensembles from Riverside Elementary School, Westwood Middle School and University High School in the Morgantown area and Bruceton School in Bruceton Mills, W.Va.
This is truly an historic event because it will be the first time the World Music Center has presented a concert consisting entirely of youth world music ensembles,Nunn said.It has become a tradition on our annual African Ensemble and Steel Drum Ensemble concerts to feature youth ensembles, but now the youth world music ensembles have been given an entire concert of their own.
The students will perform a variety of world music and dance that they have been rehearsing at their schools this year.
Directors of the school steel band ensembles include: WVU alumnus Fred Kesner and Roger Henry, Frankfort Middle School; Chip Buck, Westwood Middle School; WVU graduate Victor Gutherie and band director Doug Mason, Waynesburg Central High School; and WVU graduate Michelle Konter, Uniontown High School.
Directors of the school African ensembles include: Gordon Nunn, Susha Beck and Rose Bell, Riverside Elementary School; WVU graduate Missy Hance and Donna Kinsey, Westwood Middle School; and band director Dave Cox, Bruceton School .
The University High School African Ensemble is directed by WVU music education student Jim Morford, who is the graduate assistant for the World Music Center, and Dawn Mishra, a member of the WVU African Ensemble.
Tickets for the Youth World Music Concert are $7 for adults and $5 for children. For more information, contact the Mountainlair or CAC box office at (304) 293-SHOW.