Band Showcase Concert at Ridge High features Marine Band Guest Soloist Mark Questad

 Ridge High School graduate and Marine Band Master Sergeant Mark Questad highlights a Mid Year Band Showcase at the Ridge Performing Arts Center on Thursday, March 24 at 7 pm.  Admission is free.

French hornist Questad will perform “Concerto for Horn and Band” with the Ridge High Wind Ensemble.  Three additional Ridge High School ensembles and the William Annin Middle School 8^th Grade Band are also featured during the performance.

Questad started playing horn at age 12 and studied with Howard T. Howard.  After graduating from Ridge High, he was a scholarship student of James Chambers at the Julliard School of Music in New York.  He holds a bachelor of music degree from Indiana University in Bloomington.

Questad joined “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band in July 1992 and also performs with the Marine Chamber Orchestra and Marine Chamber Ensembles at the White house, in the Washington, DC area, and across the country during the band’s annual concert tour.

Prior to joining “The President’s Own”, Questad was a member of the Evansvillle Philharmonic in Indiana, the Owensboro Symphony in Kentucky and Top Brass.  He has also performed with the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, the New Philharmonic of New Jersey, the Group Opera of New York, the American Arts Ensemble, and the West End Chamber Players.  Questad is also a composer and arranger, whose works have been recorded by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra horn section.

In addition to the performance of “Concerto for Horn and Band”, the Ridge Wind Ensemble will also perform “Bugler’s Holiday” featuring 3 student trumpet soloists: Meg Morris, Liz Pires and Annemarie Root.  The Wind Ensemble will then be joined by the William Annin Middle School 8^th Grade Band in a performance of “A Star Wars Medley”.

Three other Ridge High ensembles will perform at the concert:

The Percussion Ensemble is a new organization in only its third year at Ridge. A wide variety of percussion instruments make up the instrumentation of this experimental group which will perform 3 pieces: “Ambience” by leader Joe Keefe, “Walk Like an Egyptian” by Liam Sternberg, and “Technology” by Jim Casella.

The Jazz Band, a traditional jazz ensemble, will perform “Fly Me to the Moon” and “Poultry in Motion”.

The Concert Band will perform music from “The Lion King”.

The Mid Year Band Showcase is a new addition to the Ridge High Music Schedule. 

Mr. Dan Zugale, director of the Ridge bands, said that “the idea behind this program is to perform some lighter selections that we normally don’t have time for in the spring program.  We also don’t have any opportunity to feature the jazz band, percussion ensemble and concert bands in one evening.”

The performance by Mark Questad with the Wind Ensemble is “an exciting opportunity to have a true professional perform with our band” added Mr. Zugale.  “The experience of working with such a distinguished artist should be invaluable.”