Prospect musicians set for London shows
Prospect High School entertained prestigious visitors when four representatives of the London New Year's Day Parade came to congratulate members of the Prospect High School Marching Knights, symphony orchestra and chamber choir on their selection for the annual event.
Catherine Longworth, the former Lord Mayor of the City of Westminster near London, her consort (husband), John Longworth, and Robert and Geraldine Bone, directors of the parade and festival, enjoyed a breakfast with members of the Prospect High School administration, musical faculty and Mount Prospect Mayor Irvana Wilks.
Afterward the three musical groups to participate in the New Year's Gala performed short programs and former Lord Mayor Longworth told the students and parents what they could expect when they visit London from Dec. 27 through Jan. 3.
Longworth also presented the school with a limited edition 2008 Buckingham Palace Collection bone china plate as a token of London's appreciation of the students' participation in the popular "turn of the year" celebration in the capital of the United Kingdom.
More than 10,000 performers from all corners of the globe entertain a street audience of around 500,000 and a global television audience of tens of millions, according to parade officials. Then the "gala concerts" include several musical ensembles from all over the world, performing for hundreds in the gala concerts series at St. John's Cathedral and St. Augustine's Church.
"The Marching Knights will perform in the parade and the symphony orchestra and chamber choir will both perform in the gala concerts," explained Patrick O'Connor, coordinator of Fine and Performing Arts at Prospect.
"For a long time now we have been interested in traveling as a music department," O'Connor explained. "In the past the various groups have each had their own individual trips and since many of our kids participate in several groups, that meant that some kids were spending a lot of money on trips."
In the future, he said, they hope to travel as a department every several years to promote unity within the department and to cut down on travel costs.
Since all three groups will be traveling to London, O'Connor said that Prospect High School constitutes the largest group to ever participate in the London New Year's Day Parade and Gala Concerts Series. Four hundred people will be making the trip, including 273 students. Others are family members and Prospect High School staff.
While in London, the group plans to tour the city and also visit Windsor Castle, Oxford University and Shakespeare's birthplace. A special New Year's Eve get-together for the students is also planned.
Among the pieces to be performed in London by the Prospect Symphony Orchestra is one that will be debuted during a concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 6, at the school, 801 W. Kensington Rd., Mount Prospect. Titled "Great Prospects Overture," the overture was written by O'Connor's former professor at the University of South Carolina at Aiken, Richard Maltz.
Maltz will be present for both performances of his composition - in Mount Prospect and in London. Consequently, Wilks has proclaimed Nov. 6 "Great Prospects Day" in Mount Prospect in honor of the overture. The official proclamation was presented to members of the Prospect High School faculty during the assembly last week in the presence of the British visitors.