McCracken Symphonic Band Performs at Band Conference

Skokie Review – February 10, 2005

The musical celebration in Ann Arbor, Michigan the weekend of Jan. 21, was highly anticipated by the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders from McCracken Middle School in Skokie. The Symphonic Band, which left on Jan. 20, had been rehearsing four mornings a week at 7:15 a.m., during the day and after school as well as taking private lessons and mentoring younger band students. Their hard work and mature musicianship awarded them an invitation to perform at the Michigan Music Education In-Service Conference and National Association for Music Educators Conference. District 73.5 Symphonic Band, under the direction of Chip De Stefano was the only Illinois band invited to participate in the 60th Michigan School Band Conference.

“It was a great honor to represent Illinois at the conference” said De Stefano. “The opportunity to perform on the same stage that has hosted the finest musicians in the world. It was a terrific reward for the hard work and dedication that the Symphonic Band put into their performance.”

The band also has been invited to present at the Illinois Music Educators Association in Peoria.

Dedication is a key word when it comes to these 58 musicians. The performance included seven pieces including the World Premiere by guest conductor, Don Owens, Associate Professor of Conducting and Director of the National High School
Music Institute at Northwestern University.

On Martin Luther King Day the 58 band students brought their instruments to the band room where they spent their day off playing and rehearsing their upcoming program. They rehearsed for two hours, “Bach’s Prelude and Fugue
in B-flat major;” the marching song, “The Pride of the Wolverines” by John Phillip Sousa and then they debuted the World Premiere, “Latin Dancing” for the composer, Don Owens. The piece was commissioned by McCracken School and was premiered at the MENC Convention. The complete work (3 movements) will be performed in the Spring of 2005.

District 73 12 is proud to achieve critical acclaim for the past nine years under the musical direction of Northwestern graduate, De Stefano. The Symphonic Band has won the SuperState Concert Band Festival in 1999-2000 and 2002-2003 school year at the University of Illinois and “honors ensemble” at the State Festival in 2003-2004. They have received 43 consecutive Division One
superior) ratings at the Illinois Grade School Music Association District Contest and was selected as the “honors ensemble” at the Inaugural State Festival in 2002.

De Stefano is a recipient of five National Band Association Citations of Excellence. He was awarded the Chicagoland Outstanding Music Educator Award in 2001 and most recently the Illinois Grade School Music Association (IGSMA) Barbara Buehlmann Young Conductor Award in 2004.