The local concert band, the Delta Music Makers, is representing Delta while on tour once again, this time in Oregon and California.
Thirty members of the concert band will board the Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas for an eight-day cruise down the coast from Vancouver to Los Angeles, followed by four days at the Disneyland Hotel.
Members always enjoy the tours, organized by conductors Curt Jantzen and Margaret Behenna, because it provides an opportunity to combine their loves of travel and music.
Performances include Astoria, Oregon, in the newly renovated and historic Liberty Theatre on Sept. 20, onboard the ship in the Safari Lounge on Sept. 21, in the San Diego community of La Mesa on Sept. 27 and in Disneyland's California Adventure Park on Sept. 28.
The group is delighted to be performing jointly with the San Diego Concert Band on Sept. 27; the two bands connected as a direct result of the famous Ladner Bandfest, organized by the Delta Music Makers in early June every year.
The Disney performance will be the icing on the cake, a reprise of the band's first trip in 1988, when it travelled by bus instead of luxury cruise ship.
The Delta Music Makers can be joined through Delta Continuing Education.
The band is open to all concert band instruments (although the saxophone section is already full) and rehearsals run Tuesday evenings at Delta Secondary. Participants should have previous high-school experience or the equivalent (even if that was a long time ago). Rental of instruments can be arranged. The band's well-known conductors also look forward to another year of teaching elementary school band.
This is an extra-curricular program taking place at Hawthorne Elementary in Ladner after school on Thursdays beginning in mid-October.
All children in grades 4 to 7 are invited; contact Jantzen at [email protected] for more information about the program.
Separate classes are held for beginners and experienced musicians. Rental of instruments can be arranged.
The conductors, both retired teachers, continue to enjoy leading the Music Makers and have promised one more year for their elementary band program, a pledge they have made annually for the last several years.
