LIAM EASLEY, TRUMPET A&E EDITOR
High school students from all over the Midwest will gather at Wartburg College for the Meistersinger Honor Band, a long-standing Wartburg tradition and one of the college’s largest music festivals, on Feb. 1-2.
“This is a really strong recruitment tool and ambassador program for Wartburg College,” Klemetson said. “A lot of the times the students who are coming to this honor band might have siblings that have come to Wartburg, or maybe their band director was a Wartburg alum, or maybe they just want to find out more about Wartburg College.”
The festival is composed of two bands. The first is the Ninth-grade Honor Band and the other is for grades 10 to 12 called the Senior Honor Band. All of the students are from high schools in the Midwest and are nominated by high school band directors. Students are then filtered through Dr. Craig Hancock, the event coordinator.
Hancock is helped by Stephanie Klemetson, the music tour, camp and promotion manager at Wartburg College. The event is a way to show potential students the Wartburg’s music department. Wartburg’s symphonic band and wind ensemble will join the Meistersinger honor bands. Each high school band is led by veteran music directors.
For the Ninth-Grade Honor Band, a music director who teaches in the state of Iowa is typically recruited. The Senior Honor Band is usually led by a college-level professor and director.
“It’s a long-standing tradition, so we have high school students that are just excited to come to Meistersinger Honor Band every year,” said Klemetson. The Meistersinger Honor Band Festival will be livestreamed by Wartburg Knight Vision.
For more information, email Hancock at craig.hancock@ wartburg.edu or Klemetson at stephanie.klemetson@wartburg. edu.
Knight Wire 
Leave a Reply