MHS band students, left to right, Madison Pappas, Katherine Wohrley, Angelique Baker, and Natalie Landgraf practice on their French horns for the band’s 59th Annual Symphony Band Concert set for Sunday, Feb. 18 at 2 p.m. in the Mendota High School auditorium. (Photo contributed)

MENDOTA – The Mendota High School Concert Band will present the 59th Annual Symphony Band Concert on Sunday, Feb. 18, at 2:30 p.m. in the Mendota High School auditorium.  Admission is free and the concert is open to the public.

Musical selections include the exciting “Centennial Fanfare” for brass by John Zdechlik, and a lively piece in the pop idiom entitled “Windfall for Woodwinds.” The band will also perform “Simple Gifts,” a collection of Shaker songs set for band by Frank Ticheli. Additionally, the band will perform a beautiful and contemplative work entitled “One Life Beautiful” by Julie Giroux. 

“One Life Beautiful” will be performed under the direction of guest conductor Dr. Erica Neidlinger from DePaul University, continuing a long-standing tradition of featuring a guest artist on this concert.

Dr. Neidlinger is associate professor and wind conductor at DePaul University in Chicago. Additional responsibilities include teaching courses in wind history and repertoire, conducting courses, and instrumental music education courses. Neidlinger’s conducting experiences are broad, ranging from chamber ensembles, contemporary ensembles, symphonic bands, and wind ensembles. She has worked with some of the finest musicians in Chicago as featured artists with the DePaul ensembles. 

In addition, Neidlinger has conducted performances across the United States and in Europe. She has traveled to Singapore and Canada as an ensemble adjudicator and clinician and has been featured as a guest conductor and clinician in Riga, Latvia and Moscow, Russia. Presentations at international conferences include the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles in Killarney, Ireland and the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic. She has conducted honor bands and presented at many conferences across the United States. She also maintains a highly active schedule as a clinician for ensembles visiting Chicago.

Before her teaching at DePaul, Neidlinger served on the faculty of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where she conducted university concert ensembles and directed the marching band. She has been a member of the band and music education faculty at Ohio State University and has also served as conductor of the Nebraska Wind Symphony. Under her direction the ensemble was selected to perform for the 2005 Association of Concert Bands National Convention and the 2007 Nebraska State Bandmasters Conference. Neidlinger completed her doctoral degree at the University of Minnesota under the supervision of Professor Craig Kirchhoff. Her research applies Laban’s “Effort Shape Theory” to the expressive development of conductors.