Tomorrow is the day when the best young musicians from around Milwaukee get together for a big biennial extravaganza.
That event is the 44th Biennial Music Festival at the U.S. Cellular Arena at 6:30 p.m. and more than 2,500 student musicians from MPS schools – from elementary through high school – and, for the first time ever, non-MPS schools, will perform.
On the schedule is the largest-ever single choir performance in the 88-year history of the event. The piece to be performed is an original composition by veteran MPS teacher Constance Aehl and local musician and studio owner John Tanner.
Musicians perform in groups such as Elementary String Group, Elementary Chorus, Band, Orchestra, Jazz Ensemble and Drum Corps.
"The concert is a culmination of all the hard work done by the students and teachers during the year," says Jeanne Kahn, retired director of the MPS harp program (1979 - 2005).
"It is an exciting sight to see when all the performers come into the Arena to the sound of drums. It is easy to get teary-eyed when everyone sings as one voice during 'The Star Spangled Banner.' It is also fun and exciting, too, when the director of the Festival asks everyone in the audience to stand up if they ever participated in a Festival. More than half the audience stands up!"
Kahn notes with sadness that the formerly two-day event has now been slashed to a single day due to budget cuts.
But it's still alive and, says Kahn, it has a long tradition.
"There have been five generations of the Bergeim family that have participated since the early days," she says. "MPS is constantly the source of negative publicity, so it is wonderful to see the other side of the coin in a concert that features thousands of students of the entire MPS school population. What a fantastic experience for music students to have in their lives!"
Tickets for the event are $5.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
