May 31, 2006
Contributed by Liz Ahana
Their seven performances include one at the Great Wall entrance plaza, another at Shijiazhuang No. 1 High School, a third at the Hebei Provincial Art center with the Chinese Liberation Army Band, and a concert at Xijing University Performing Arts Center--sharing the stage with Chinese performers.
The marching performances will include both parade and field show exhibitions. The Kamehameha Schools Warrior Band will perform their distinctive Aloha 'Oe and Kamehameha Marches, as well their award winning Phantom of the Opera Field Show. The concerts' repertoire will consist of popular and traditional Hawaiian band selections in a narrative setting designed to give audiences a musical and visual history of island music and dance from the formation of the island chain through ethnic and cultural influences of Hawaii to the present.
The Kamehameha Schools students also have a heavy sightseeing schedule. Among other things, they will visit Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, the Summer Palace on the Shore of Kunming Lake, Longxing Monastery, and the 2,200-year-old Terra Cotta Warriors which were created to protect Emperor Qin Shi Huang in the afterlife.
Band Director John Riggle, shares that "The Chinese are very eager to experience culture and art from the west. Many have never seen a high school marching band from the United States, and even less have experienced any type of live performance of Hawaiian music or dance. This will truly be a first for both the audiences and student performers." Kamehameha students will have the unique experience of performing for, as well as interacting on a one-to-one basis with, Chinese student musicians of their age.
The Warrior Band has many other "firsts" in its history, including being the only U.S high school band to have ever appeared at The Royal Tournament in London, as well as The Changing of the Guard Ceremony at the Palace of Monaco in conjunction with their 2000 Millennium Tour of France, Switzerland and Italy. They are also the only Hawaii high school band to perform for two Presidential Inaugural Parades (Kennedy and Clinton), two NFL half-times (S.F 49ers and Baltimore Ravens), and have appeared in the Tournament of Roses Parade on three separate occasions.
The students and band booster club have undertaken a variety of fundraising endeavors over the past two years including a Jog-A-Thon, Truck Give-Away, and many types of food sales.
Kamehameha Schools’ policy is to give preference to applicants of Hawaiian ancestry to the extent permitted by law.
