On April 15th at 7:30 PM, the Arrowhead Wind ensemble will be performing at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. as a part of the Washington D.C International Music Festival.

The number of students attending the trip is 45 students which includes chaperones and the directors. The reason for the trip is the performance. 

Students performing in the Wind Ensemble along with band director Jake Polancich will leave by plane on Friday, April 12th, and will return on the 16th. 

Some of the students going are sophomore Lilly Talbot, sophomore Zach Hein, junior Finn Fitzgerald, Senior Austin Kempen, junior Emery Cummins-Brown, and sophomore Brady Mueller. 

Talbot said, “I’m super excited and honored to be able to go on this trip with the Wind Ensemble. I love the band so much and now becoming a person who is playing multiple instruments it’s been even better, and just to be able to play in Washington D.C with my friends is going to be so exciting.”

For anyone attending the concert, tickets are $40 a piece and can be found on the website. The Lexington High School Wind Ensemble from Lexington, Massachusetts, and the Concordia University Ann Arbor Orchestra and Choir will also be playing during the concert. 

Polancich said, “I’m super excited to take this band that has worked so hard. We have been preparing the songs since the winter concert and [students have] been improving day by day and I can’t wait to showcase our talent on the Kennedy Stage.”

There was an audition process for the Wind ensemble to be able to go to the Kennedy Center to perform. The band had to play a piece that had been working on it, record it, and then send it in as a submission to the people who were selecting the bands that could attend. 

High School, college, and community bands, choirs, and orchestras are encouraged to audition. This website states, “In order to ensure a quality experience, the festival is limited to a maximum of three adjudicated ensembles and one university/community showcase ensemble. Groups that are denied entry based on available festival capacity will be given first priority in the following year.” 

Arrowhead was one of the three bands to be selected. This was something new that Arrowhead was auditioning for this year.