North Salinas High School — Residency & Concert
Postponed due to school closures.
Monterey County Pops!, the area’s only provider of free-to-the-public professional concerts, is proud to present on March 27, 2020, 6:30 p.m. in the Gym of North Salinas High School, its 20-member fully professional Wind Ensemble conducted and bilingually hosted by Music Director, Dr. Carl Christensen, in a program of light classics, marches, movie music, and traditional music from Mexico.
The professional musicians of the Monterey County Pops! will be in residence at North Salinas High School in the afternoon rehearsing with the students and conducting instrumental, choral, and dance demonstrations and workshops.
This event is part of a winter tour of the Salinas Valley by the Monterey County Pops! which has included similar residencies at Gonzales, Greenfield, and Soledad High Schools.
Featured guest performers on the program include the 45-member Viking Band conducted by Brian Parker, the 25-member North High Choir conducted by their new director, Brandon Ellsworth, and the26-member Grupo Folklórico Juventud, directed by Jesus Gomez who also coaches the school’s soccer team. These student musicians and dancers will perform side-by-side with the professional musicians of the Monterey County Pops!
The Monterey County Pops! will present themes from The Empire Strikes Back, the Folk Song Suite of Ralph Vaughan Williams, American Salute by Morton Gould, Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa. Other selections include the Latin favorites La Llorona, Jesucita en Chihuahua, and Creí.
The Viking Band will perform five selections which they recently performed at Disneyland including Washington Post March by John Philip Sousa, The Syncopated Clock by Leroy Anderson, and The Great Locomotive Chase by Robert Smith.
Recently appointed choir director, Brandon Ellsworth, a graduate of Westminster Choir College and former voice teacher at Arts High School in Newark, New Jersey, will lead the North High Choir in pop and classical selection accompanied by the Monterey County Pops!
North High’s Grupo Folklórico Juventud, led by Jesus Gomez will perform Jarabe Tapatio and La Negra. These two Mexican classics have been arranged by Monterey County Pops! Music Director, Carl Christensen specifically for this performance.
This and other free Monterey County Pops! performances are made possible by generous donations, sponsorships, and foundation grants. La Plaza Bakery will provide refreshments for the participants between the afternoon workshops and the evening concert.
