Wheaton Municipal Band celebrates Wagner and Verdi bicentennial year on June 13

Joining the band to pay tribute to the great masters are students from Wheaton Warrenville South High School and Wheaton North High School.   The students will sit shoulder-to-shoulder with veteran Wheaton Municipal Band musicians such as clarinetist Carol Kierzyk, whose daughter Kathryn, a recent Wheaton Warrenville South High School graduate, will perform with the band on French horn.

This year, Carol celebrates 30 years with the Wheaton Municipal Band. Carol shares her love of music with her other children as well: 5th grader Zane plays trumpet and 8th grader Kyle plays percussion.  “With this high caliber group of musicians in the wonderful community of Wheaton, the WMB enables me to continue the joy I have always received from performing,” says Carol.

Throughout the summer concert season, the Wheaton Municipal Band traditionally recognizes some of the fine musicians within its own ranks. This week the band will accompany clarinetists James Garcia and Brandon Sheppard playing Concert Piece No. 2 by Mendelssohn.

Also featured on the program is guest violin soloist Serena Harnack, a 14-year-old sophomore at St. Francis High School, playing Meditation from Thais by Massenet.   Harnack has received numerous awards and recognitions including being a Special Merit Scholar and recipient of the 2012-2013 Susan and Richard Kiphart Scholarship at Music Institute of Chicago, where she is a member of the Academy program for gifted pre-college musicians. Harnack recently appeared as a soloist with the DuPage Symphony Orchestra in Naperville and the Fox Valley Orchestra in Aurora.

Don’t miss this outstanding Wheaton Municipal Band concert on Thursday, June 13 at 8:00 p.m. in Memorial Park, 208 W. Union Ave., Wheaton.