Cascade Horizon Band performs in winter concert

The "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy from Company B" made an appearance at Sisters High School, courtesy of the Cascade Horizon Band.

The Cascade Horizon Band is a "50-plus" band. There are 50-plus members, the group has played 50-plus venues; and they are all 50-plus years of age. The big band played its fourth annual winter concert last Sunday in the Sisters High School Auditorium to an appreciative crowd.

The free concert was an encore performance of the one offered two weeks ago that drew nearly 800 enthusiastic fans at Bend High School. The Sisters concert was supported, in part, by presenting sponsor Sisters RE/MAX Town & Country Realty.

The band was birthed four years ago by a small but enthusiastic group who thought that they still might have the right stuff, even after all these years.

"The official count is 52 members in the band. We started out with 12," said Marilyn Burkholder, who is the manager/president of the band and is also one of the original 12 members.

The band is affiliated with the International New Horizons senior band program which was founded 14 years ago at New York's noted Eastman School of Music. The Cascade Horizon Band was band number 74 to join the program, which now has more than 100 bands with approximately 4,000 musicians.

"We are a senior band, and I think that that is a little significant in the fact that almost all of us had not played an instrument in many, many, many years. We played in junior high or high school. A few played right along, but very few. Some of the musicians had never even played an instrument - ever," said Burkholder.

Sisters resident and French horn musician Tom Worcester joined the band about six months after it started. Agreeing with Burkholder he said, "Most of the band members had not played since high or junior high school. It had been almost 50 years for me when I started playing in the band."

The Central Oregon band is well known throughout the High Desert, and the members hail from various locations.

"It is housed here at High Desert Middle School (in Bend) - where we meet, but we have people coming from all over - Crook County, Bend, Redmond, Sisters - all over," said Sue Steiger, the director of the band.

Two of the band's members are from Sisters. Worcester, who in a break of tradition, introduced the band at the Sisters concert and Don Oliver, whose instrument of choice is the baritone horn. Oliver is one of the original 12 members according to Worcester.

The band plays at various venues throughout Central Oregon and played twice in Sisters during last year, first in the Rodeo Parade and then in the third annual summer concert which was held at Sisters High School.

"We average between 10 and 12 (performances) per year," said Burkholder.

For Sunday evening's concert, Steiger selected a wide variety of music that spanned the better part of a century. Her selections included pieces chosen to showcase different sections of the band. This was quite an accomplishment when taken in light of Burkholder's comment, "Keep in mind that four years ago all we could play was 'Mary Had A Little Lamb.'"

"We do big band marches, some things from musicals, also classical - like 'March to the Scaffold' from the Hector Berlioz 'Symphonie Fantastique - Opus 14.' We are taking an arrangement from an orchestra setting and then placed it for a band," Steiger said.

There is a significant amount of preparation and dedication required from members of the band.

"We have two really big concerts per year, one in January which we consider our anniversary concert and one in June. We do a lot of little ones in between. We are just starting our preparation for our June concert, so it takes about six months of preparations to get ready for the big concerts," said Burkholder.

Although the concerts are free to the public, the band attempts to raise money for a stated purpose.

"Even though the concert is free, we gladly accept donations, and we put some nice big donation jars out in the lobby. ... I do tell the audience that any proceeds go toward a scholarship fund. We do sell CDs and profits from that go to the scholarship fund. We give a scholarship to a graduating high school senior who excels in instrumental music," said Burkholder.

For more information contact Marilyn Burkholder at 330-1989.