In honor of being selected as the State Honor Band, the Arkansas High School Band will perform a concert on Thursday, February 17, 2022, at Horner Hall, in the Hot Springs Convention Center. The concert will begin at 9:15 p.m. and will be a featured event at the Arkansas School Band and Orchestra Association Convention.
Earlier this year, the AHS Band was selected as the 2022 5A State Honor Band for the state of Arkansas. To achieve honor band status, a recording of the band’s 1st Division performance at the Region Concert Assessment was reviewed and evaluated by a blind panel of expert judges from outside the state of Arkansas. These judges ranked all of the qualifying band performances from across the state. The Arkansas High School Razorback Band’s performance was then ranked as the number one, best performance, in the state of Arkansas.
The band will perform a selection of masterworks written for concert band including: Emperata Overture by Claude T. Smith, On an American Spiritual by David Holsinger, Fiesta by Clifton Williams, Breaking Through by Brian Balmages, and The Black Horse Troop by John Phillip Sousa.
“We are very proud to be selected as the State Honor Band. This distinction represents several years of dedication and hard work on the part of our students to achieve this level of excellence, Mr. Richard Eckstein, Director of TASD Bands commented. Our entire band program from the Superintendent, Dr. Becky Kesler, our AHS Principal, Mr. Michael Odom, and our team of directors; Vincent Flieder, Phillip House, Julie Gladden, Lauren Eckstein, and Renee Jorgensen are all to be congratulated for this outstanding achievement. The band held a concert last Thursday for a crowd of supportive parents and families. Eckstein said that the parents have been essential to the AHS band students’ music education. “Personally, it is a great honor and privilege to direct the wonderful students who have made this achievement possible.”
For further comments or questions, please feel free to contact Richard Eckstein, TASD Director of Bands at: richard.eckstein@tasd7.net, or 903-285-1818
