Austin High School is the host for this year’s Big Nine Music Festival on Friday. This event is the culmination of hours of hard work and preparation from each of the participating schools top performing choir, band, and orchestra. In addition, top musicians have been selected from each school to rehearse together to prepare special music for the select orchestra, select choir, and select band. This festival brings more than 2,000 student musicians together to perform for each other and clinicians to showcase the musical talent of the students in the Big Nine Conference.

The Big Nine Festival began in the spring of 1933 in Austin and has been held every year except 1943, when the war and fuel rationing prevented the festival. It is the oldest festival of its kind in the country and many other music festivals have been patterned after the Big Nine. It is always held the first Friday in May at a rotating host school. The Big Nine boasts that it has maintained top quality bands, choirs and orchestras from every school in the conference in the midst of tight budgets. This is largely due to tremendous administrative and community support.

The daytime performances begin at 8:30 a.m. and continue until 2:45 p.m. with a break for lunch. The bands will perform at the Austin High School auditorium, the orchestras in the Packer Gym, and the choirs at St. Olaf Lutheran Church sanctuary. The clinicians for the day are Steven Amundson from St. Olaf College, orchestra, Tim Diem of the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis, and choral clinician, Timothy Sawyer, Northwestern College, St. Paul. Daytime performances are free and the public is welcome to come and listen. Albert Lea orchestra will play at 9 a.m., choir at 10:30 a.m. and band at 1:15 p.m.

The grand finale concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Austin High School gymnasium. Tickets for this event are $6 for adults and $4 for students. What follows in the concert is always an amazing performance by the select orchestra, select band and select choir. The concert will conclude with a moving combined band, choir, and orchestral performance of “America the Beautiful.”

Singing in the select choir from Albert Lea are Katie Walker, Annmarie Caporale, Kelly Duncomb, Kelly Nelson, Kelli Hanson, Christine Balsley, Mikaela Pierson, Maddy Ruble, Aaron Thomas, Tim Stone-king, Adam Blanshan, Cody Hansen, Kevin Zogg, Alex Amundson, Peter Grano, and Noah Christopherson. Select band members are Jessica Henderson, Mary Wangen, Megan Thompson, Emily Stoneking, Kayla Hartmann, Amy Lysne, Amanda Wood, Matt Dorman, Aubrey Olson, Katie Schou and Ray Stephenson. Albert Lea select orchestra members are Alex Ciota, Jenna Christensen, Paige Ford, Mitchell Wood, Alex Neilson and Gygy Cervantes.