The Hill Country Community Band will be back in action later this month with another spring performance.
The concert will take place on Sunday, May 21, at 4 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Wimberley. The free and family-friendly concert, billed as “Contemporary Classical Dances,” will spotlight works by notable composers such as Reed, Marquez and Sousa. Directed by Dr. Manuel Arambula, the program will include a handful of lively compositions such as “Armenian Dances, Parts I and II,” “Danzón No. 2,” and “Washington Post.”
One unique feature of this concert will be the addition of guest pianist, Karla Cruz, who received a music education degree from Texas State University, with an emphasis on piano. According to her recent biography, this married mother of two has been directing middle and high school choirs in central Texas for 30 years. Currently, she is the choir director at Canyon High School in New Braunfels. Under her direction, choirs have received consistent sweepstakes awards at UIL competitions and have won best of class at festivals in Breckenridge, Los Angeles, South Padre Island, and Toronto. In Canada, her choir was awarded the “Esprit de Corps” award. In 1999, her choir was selected as an honor choir to perform at the Texas Music Educators Association convention. She has also been the Choral Director at the Wimberley United Methodist Church for the past five years.
During the HCCB’s afternoon performance, Cruz will be the featured soloist for “Danzon No. 2” by Arturo Marquez and will play the harp part on grand piano for “Armenian Dances I and II” by Alfred Reed.
The HCCB will perform with the Wimberley Community Chorus for the Hometown Patriotic Concert on July 4.
The Hill Country Community Band is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose musicians are volunteers from the Central Texas area. To keep up with the band’s concert schedule, to find out how to join or how to donate time or money, visit hillcountrycommunityband. org.
