‘ELvis struck again’ between 22 and 25 February 2016 when the ELvis musicians met again to prepare a concert. The meeting took place at the Ronneburg near Freigericht, where all teachers and students were accommodated. They had rehearsals from Monday afternoon until Thursday afternoon (while also making music in between) which culminated in a concert for a full ‘aula’ at the Kopernikusschule in Freigericht.

This time there were musicians from the Widukind Gymnasium School Orchestra in Enger (DE), some soloists from I.E.S. Pedro Cerrada in Utebo (ES) and a band from Sophianum Gulpen (NL) who joined the Wind Orchestra orchestra of the organising school. Teachers from Freigericht, Enger and Utebo completed the orchestra.

As has become customary, the concert was opened with the Prelude from Te Deum (Eurovision Hymn) by Charpentier. This was played by the Kopernikus Winds. They also performed Giudita by Alfred Bösendorfer and the Muppet Show Theme.

This performance was followed by the WGE School Orchestra playing ‘Alla Hornpipe Bourré’ from The Watermusic by G. F. Händel, the Theme from Schindler’s List with a great violin solo by their concert master and a medley from Sister Act.

Then the Band from Sophianum, with guest musicians from I.E.S. Pedro Cerrada ended the first part of the performance by playing Hump the Bump by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars.

After the break it was time for the orchestras and band to merge and do a joint performance of Voluntary by Henry Purcell, Tatort Europa, a piece put together by the ‘Instrumentalpraktischer Kurs of the WGE’ in which a number of familiar tunes from all over Europe were strung together followed by music from Flucht der Karabik by Klaus Badelt, Celebration by Ronad Bell and Happy by Pharrell Williams, both hits from recent years. After a couple of encores the concert ended.

Thanks go to: Bettina Maehler, Christoph Jöst, Andreas Weismantel and Ulrich Mayer for making this possible. Music teachers from all schools involved (Mr. Andreas Weismantel, Ms. Petra Weismantel, Mrs. Dr. Meike Tiemeyer- Schütte, and Mr. Hanz Martens) made arrangements, led the rehearsals and conducted the orchestras. Special thanks go to them.

Judging from the happy faces of both musicians and audience everyone who took part in the concert and witnessed this had a great time. We hope that this wonderful experience can be repeated in another school soon!

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