The official student news site of Athens Drive High School

ATHENS ORACLE

The official student news site of Athens Drive High School

ATHENS ORACLE

The official student news site of Athens Drive High School

ATHENS ORACLE

Search site

ADHS Wind Ensemble goes to Carnegie Hall

Jerry "Doc" Markoch leading the ADHS Wind Ensemble at Carnegie Hall on March 24.
Jerry “Doc” Markoch leading the ADHS Wind Ensemble at Carnegie Hall on March 24.

The Athens Drive High School band program consider themselves to be the number one ambassadors of the school and one way to prove it is with their upcoming performance at Carnegie Hall.

“I want to do things that will put Athens Drive on the map. That’s why we are going to Carnegie,” said Jerry “Doc” Markoch, band director, has been training the wind ensemble of the ADHS Band Program to be the best they can be March 24, where they will be performing in Carnegie Hall in New York City.

“Athens Drive will be the first Wake County school to be performing in Carnegie,” said Markoch, “It is where the greatest artists in the world perform. We are all honoured and thrilled.”

The band has been to many places around the country before to perform such as the Washington D.C. Memorial Parade, Hershey Park, Pennsylvania, Atlanta, Indianapolis, and Disney World but Carnegie Hall in New York City has been a longtime goal of the Band and Markoch himself.

“We will be there for four action packed days-we will be in razzy hotels, explore the sights, watch Broadway, see other performances, and eat food from Chinatown and hot dogs in vending machines,” said Markoch.

They will also be receiving a clinic by conductor Gary Green who is Markoch’s favourite conductor and will also be receiving almost 80 hours of work with guest conductors and clinicians.

Besides going to Carnegie Hall for the recognition, the performance in Carnegie will also be dedicated to the late Buzz Culotta, father of Olivia Culotta, who was an active band parent and who fought against lung cancer.

“He was the first parent to have died on active duty, as I like to call it. His passing shook us all,” said Markoch.

The trip to Carnegie took a lot of fundraising. They sold foodstuff such as nuts and other various snacks to selling mattresses. They are even preparing for other competitions in the future such as the International Competition in Dayton, Ohio where the Winter Percussion will be competing to be one of the 12 finest bands in the world. The Winter Guard program is also going to be competing at the Regionals tournament in Raleigh at the end of March to be the finest in the region.

“We are a busy place. We got a lot and hoping to do more,” said Markoch.

Their plans for the future include playing at the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Parade and they are applying to compete in the Rose Bowl taking place in Pasadena, CA on the first of January which is another long-time goal of Markoch’s.

Evan Johnson, senior, and a clarinet player of the Wind Ensemble is also going to Carnegie on the 24th.

“To begin, it is a very big honor to be selected to perform at Carnegie Hall. With the history the venue has had, it is a very big stepping stone for our band program here at Athens. To perform on the same stage as Benny Goodman, Leonard Bernstein, and other famous musicians is a huge honor. I’m specifically looking forward to the general Carnegie Hall experience,” said Johnson.

“When we play “Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral” by Richard Wagner, which is our final selection, I can’t wait to hear the resonance of the final chord in the hall. As a Wind Ensemble, we do need to acknowledge all of the past seniors in our program, since they were the ones that helped us reach this point. We also are very thankful for all of the alumni support. Without it, the dream of playing at Carnegie Hall would possibly not become true. And lastly, we need to acknowledge Doc for all of his hard work and leadership. The way he works with the band students is phenomenal. He is an amazing leader and we are very thankful for all of the time he has spent with us in preparation for Carnegie Hall,” said Johnson about the trip to Carnegie.

“Everything we do is about love,” said Doc, “Ya gotta luv it is our motto.”

The best of luck goes to the Wind Ensemble and their performance taking place March 24 and they will surely make history at Athens Drive.

 

More to Discover
Donate to ATHENS ORACLE
$0
$500
Contributed
Our Goal