Hastings College Music is now accepting auditions for its honor band and choir festival, which will be held Sunday-Monday, January 21-22, 2024 on campus. Students can submit their audition and find additional information at hastings.edu/hhbc. The deadline to submit an audition is Monday, November 27, 2023.
The clinician for the 60th Annual Honor Band is Dr. Louie Eckhardt, assistant professor of music, and director of bands at Hastings College. The clinician for the 52nd Annual Honor Choir is Dr. Lauren Ramey, associate director of choral activities and director of music education at East Tennessee State University.
The festival concert will be held at 5:30 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church (621 N. Lincoln Ave., Hastings) on Monday, January 22. The concert is free and open to the public.
The Hastings College Honor Band and Choir are the longest-running high school music honor ensembles sponsored by a college in Nebraska.
About the Clinicians
In addition to directing the Hastings College band and Marching Bronco Band, Dr. Louie Eckhardt teaches music history and high brass and is chair of the Department of Music and Theatre.
He is the principal trumpet of the Hastings Symphony Orchestra, the Monroe Symphony Orchestra, the Cathedral Brass Quintet and La Follia Austin Baroque. He has also performed with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Acadiana Symphony Orchestra, Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra, Rapides Symphony Orchestra, Nittany Valley Symphony Orchestra and the Altoona Symphony Orchestra.
Dr. Lauren Ramey is associate director of choral activities and director of music education at East Tennessee State University. She conducts BucsWorth Tenor Bass Choir and Greyscale. She also teaches courses in choral conducting and music education.
She maintains an active conducting and presenting schedule, with recent conference presentations and poster sessions covering topics such as preparation of the EdTPA, acoustic configuration of ensembles, Impostor Phenomenon in music educators, cultivating community through relationship building and inclusivity for diverse learners in the choral classroom.
Ramey is the honor choir chair for the 2024 American Choral Directors Association Southern Region Conference, and serves on the Tennessee Music Educators Association Board. She previously served as assistant conductor for the Florida State University Chamber Choir and several other choirs at the university. Before her doctoral studies, Ramey directed high school choirs and was a recipient of the CMA Music Teacher of Excellence Award and was a quarterfinalist for the Grammy Music Educator Award.
Hastings College is a four-year residential college that focuses on student academic and extracurricular achievement. Discover more at hastings.edu.
