(From Findlay City Schools)

The Findlay High School Orchestra program is paying tribute to several early American trailblazers with a concert entitled “Celebrate America” on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, at 7:30 p.m. in the R.L. Heminger Auditorium at Findlay High School. General admission tickets are $10 and will be available at the door the night of the concert. Seniors with a Golden Buckeye card and children 5 years and under receive free admission.

“The concert will feature Americana-style music,” said Ken Pressel, orchestra director, “and each piece is connected to an early American who shaped the character of our country, from Harriet Tubman to Clara Barton, Mark Twain to Wild Bill Hickok.”

The Concert Strings ensemble will kick-off the concert with three pieces followed by the Symphony Strings ensemble with four selections. The two groups will then combine for the final four selections of the show. Selections include an African American spiritual, a fiddle hoedown, an early American hymn, and a medley of cowboy folk tunes, to name a few.

A commentary and slide show will introduce each piece. Sharinda Welton, the director of student activities at the University of Findlay and UFTV’s art and culture show host, will serve as the commentator; Mikaela Umbs and junior Amber Bihn will provide interlude harp music. “The students have been working hard preparing this music since the start of the school year and they are eager to showcase their musicianship and talent,” said Pressel.

The orchestras will be directed by Mr. Ken Pressel and Mr. Jeremy Sheets. This is Mr. Pressel’s 31 st year teaching orchestra at Findlay City Schools and Mr. Jeremy Sheets’ third year of teaching orchestra at Findlay.