Feb. 3, 2023 -- The Cleveland Heights High School Instrumental Music Department (IMD) is proud to announce its Midwinter Concert Series for the 2022-2023 school on Wednesday, February 15 and Thursday, February 16, 2023 in the high school’s Main Auditorium. There will be no cost for admission to the concerts. Instead, the Band and Orchestra Parent Organization (BOPO) will be accepting donations that will directly go towards supporting instrumental music at Heights High School.

Wednesday, February 15 will feature Concert Band, Symphonic Band, the two Jazz Ensembles, and Symphonic Winds under the direction of Dr. Nicholas Marzuola. Concert Band will open the evening with Star Journey by Alan Lee Silva and Alarm by Randall Standridge. Symphonic Band will perform Entry of the Gladiators by Julius Fucík as well as Blue Ridge Reel Brian Balmages.

Jazz 170 will perform The Frim Fram Sauce by Joe Ricardel and Redd Evans as arranged by John Wasson, Duke Ellington and Juan Tizol’s Caravan, and Mofongo de Mama by Michael Philip Mossman. The second jazz ensemble, Jazz 176, is third to take the stage where they plan to perform Alan Baylock’s Two Seconds to Midnight, Misty by Johnny Burke and Erroll Garner, and will conclude their portion of the concert with Birdland by Josef Zwainful as arranged by Larry Kerchner.

Symphonic Winds will conclude the first concert of the series with Mendelssohn's Funeral March from Op. 62 No. 3, O Magnus Mysterium by Morten Lauridsen as arranged by H. Robert Reynold, and Alfred Reed’s El Camino Real.

The Thursday concert will feature Concert Orchestra, the Philharmonic Strings, and the Heights High Symphony Strings under the direction of Daniel Heim. The concert will open with Concert Orchestra performing The Red Lion by Jeremy Woolstenhulme, Kathryn Griesinger’s Subterranean, and Three Susato Dances by Tielman Susato as arranged by Wm. Owens.

The Philharmonic String will be next to take the stage with Wildfire by Kathryn Griesinger, Doug Stata’s Avalon Rising, and Modest Mussorgsy’s Ukrainian Dance (Hopak) as arranged by D.B. Monday.

The Heights High Symphony Strings will perform Steampunk by Richard Meyer as well as all four movements of Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.

The Philharmonic String will join the Heights High Symphony Strings on stage to perform Lullaby by William Hofeldt. And the evening will conclude with a performance of Mark Williams’ Fiddles on Fire by all three of the IMD’s string ensembles.

The IMD also invites the community to celebrate 100 years of instrumental music at Cleveland Heights High School at the IMD Centennial Concert on February 25, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. in the Heights High Main Auditorium. Alumni or community members who wish to perform during the concert can find more information and sign up on BOPO’s website. 

Cleveland Heights High’s instrumental music program is considered one of the premier programs in the state. Celebrating 100 years, the music program has enjoyed extraordinary music directors and a supportive community and school board. The orchestra has been awarded “superior” ratings by well-respected judges. Every year several Heights High students have been honored to join Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, Contemporary Youth Orchestra, Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony, the Cleveland Youth Pops, the All-Ohio State Fair Band and other performance groups. Many students go on to have careers as professional and classical musicians, as well as music educators. The Symphony, Symphonic Winds, and Jazz Ensemble performed at Severance Hall in 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019. The Jazz Ensemble has also performed at Nighttown.

For additional information, contact Daniel Heim at [email protected] or Dr. Nicholas Marzuola at [email protected].