KADENA, AB, OKINAWA — April 15, 2010 — More than 180 students representing all 12 DoDEA Pacific high schools will participate in the DoDEA Pacific Far East Honor Music Festival here April 26-30.

Students will spend each day perfecting their performances in preparation for the culminating Far East Honor Music Festival Concert on Friday, April 30. The free concert will be held at the Okinawa Civic Center Auditorium. The performance is open to the public and begins at 7 p.m.

A separate jazz ensemble performance will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 29 at the Rocker NCO Club Ballroom on Kadena AB. The Far East Honor Jazz Band performance is billed as a “jazz club” experience with food and drinks available for purchase. The event is also free and open to anyone with base access.

The music festival provides students a unique opportunity to come together and perform at a collectively higher level explained DoDEA Pacific Fine Arts Coordinator, “All students who attend the festival benefit from the instructional and performance opportunity … the music festival is an extension of our curricular program in Band, Choir, and String Orchestra.”

Student selection for the music festival was highly competitive with over 600 auditions submitted by students in Orchestra, Concert or Jazz Band for review by judges with expertise in each instrument or discipline. The III MEF Band and U.S. Army Japan Band assisted with the judging.

On April 28, III MEF Band members will lead master classes for the students in the morning and perform a 1 p.m. concert at the Kadena Keystone Theater.

DoDEA music teachers are the event coordinators and will be joined by several of their DoDEA Pacific colleagues in guiding and preparing students during the event. For further information please contact the DoDEA Pacific Fine Arts Office at (DSN) 644-5882