TEMPLE, Texas — Three of Temple High School’s premiere music programs are banding together for a one-of-a-kind concert next month. The Temple Highlighters jazz band and the Polyfoniks and Encore choirs will be uniting for “Live at the THS Auditorium” on March 24th.
The three groups will be performing an evening of jazz, swing, and big band music during the concert. The Highlighters, Polyfoniks, and Encore have performed together in the past, but this is believed to be the first time in the long history of the ensembles that the three groups have been presented in a full, combined concert.
The combined concert will be modeled after Frank Sinatra’s “Sinatra At The Sands” performance with Count Basie and his Orchestra and will feature music from the Rat Pack, Glenn Miller and his Orchestra, and other big band artists. The idea for the combined concert came from directors Marcos Duran (Temple Highlighters) and Cameron Roucloux and Megan Simmons (Polyfoniks & Encore). The directors were looking for a way to collaborate, with the idea of creating memories, not just for the audience, but for the performers, as well.
“I hope the kids have an understanding of how monumental this opportunity to perform a full concert together is for them,” Roucloux said. “Getting to be a part of the legacy that comes before them and then add something new to the legacy of these programs, hopefully they can look back years from now and say, ‘When the Highlighters and Polyfoniks performed together, I was a part of that.’ This is something different, to give our kids a cool opportunity to perform with their peers in a different discipline within Fine Arts.”
Some of the current students also approached the directors looking for ways for the groups to expand the ways they work together. The directors are excited about the opportunity to showcase their programs to the community in a new way and are also hopeful that a large number of alumni from each of the groups will attend the concert.
“This is a great way to promote a different side of the jazz genre because we get to focus on the vocalists, where typically, the band is at the forefront,” Duran said. “I think the kids see that everyone is working toward the same goal of trying to give the students a great experience. We are trying to promote the spirit of collaborativeness that our disciplines require. I am excited for them, and I would not want to miss this. These programs have been around for nearly 75 years and more than 60 years respectively, and this performance represents everything that Temple stands for with our great history of Fine Arts education.”
The concert will begin at 7:30 pm in the Temple High School Auditorium on Tuesday, March 24th. Tickets are already on sale and may be purchased through the following link: Temple High School Choir – Polyfoniks & Encore with Temple Highlighters: Live At THS Auditorium. Reserved tickets are $20, general admission are $15, and student/alumni/teacher tickets are $5.