Whistling champ to perform with Prairie band
As the former band director at Hersey High School in Arlington Heights and director of the Prairie Brass Band, Dallas Niermeyer of Arlington Heights thought he had heard it all.
Then he caught wind of David Morris and his award winning talent: he whistles, and has a title of Grand Master World Whistling Champion, to prove it.
On Saturday, Morris and the Prairie Brass Band return to headline the Arlington Heights Community Concert Association series, which is presented in partnership with Northwest Suburban High School District 214 Community Education.
They perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Forest View Educational Center Theater, 2121 S. Goebbert Road, Arlington Heights.
The last time Morris soloed with the 27 members of the Prairie Brass Band, he sold out the concert venue.
"He is amazing," Niermeyer says simply. "He has his own special arrangements, and over one half of the program will be devoted to his numbers. The band will back him up just like we'd do for say, a trombone soloist."
Morris will perform selections including "Bring Him Home," from the Broadway musical, "Les Miz," and the traditional "Trumpet Voluntary," commonly heard at weddings.
Meantime, the Prairie Brass Band will open the concert playing the "Olympic Fanfare," by John Williams, before performing other numbers that feature a cornet solo by Mark Fenne of Geneva, and a rare baritone solo by their principal baritonist, Paul Eakley of Lombard.
Niermeyer first heard Morris and his unique talent on a BBC radio broadcast, before seeing him profiled on the CBS Sunday Morning show. When he invited him two years ago to perform with the Prairie Brass Band, Morris accepted.
Jim Perry of Arlington Heights serves as president of the Community Concert Association, and he concedes he was skeptical when Niermeyer pitched the idea of showcasing a whistler during their first concert together.
"I thought, 'What can a whistler bring,' " Perry recalls. "Wow. It was beyond anything I could ever have imagined. He's an entertainment, all to himself."
The last time Morris performed, the concert association drew not only its season subscribers and a full house, but at least 50 professional whistlers who came to see the world champion perform.
"It's a sound that just baffles you," Perry adds. "It's absolutely unbelievable."
If you go
What: Prairie Brass Band with world champion whistler, David Morris
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Forest View Educational Center Theater, 2121 S. Goebbert Road, Arlington Heights
Listen: Sample Morris' whistling at www.davidmorris-whistler.com
Cost: $20; free for children under 12
Call: (847) 718-7702
Next up: The band will perform "Farewell to A Tapestry of Freedom" at 3:30 p.m. May 31 at Gail Borden Public Library's outdoor stage, 270 N. Grove Ave., Elgin