Outstanding Perry High School musicians Breanna Penenger and Adriana Eastman will spend three weeks in Europe next month as part of the Iowa Ambassadors of Music (IAM) tour.[wpedon id=”82220″ align=”center”]
Penenger and Eastman will form part of a select group of 390 student musicians, advisors and parents from across Iowa who will take the 21-day tour, which starts with four days of rehearsals in Grinnell and a farewell concert July 2 at 7 p.m. at Grinnell College’s Darby Gymnasium.
The IAM European tour offers the young musicians the opportunity to perform throughout Europe. After leaving Grinnell, the Ambassadors begin a 16-day concert tour through England, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy and Liechtenstein. The students will perform in each country except Liechtenstein.
The Iowa ambassadors tour Europe on alternate years. To be considered for membership in IAM, students must be recommended by their music teachers for superior music skills and strong characters. After the initial recommendation, the students are contacted about the opportunity to participate in the tour.
This year the students will perform in either the 200-member band or the 150-member choir.
Both Eastman and Penenger were nominated for the 2018 tour by former Perry High School band director Brandon Weeks. Penenger, a 2018 graduate of Perry High School, will perform as a vocalist in the choir, and Eastman, an incoming PHS senior, will be perform with the band as a percussionist.
Through performance, musicians in the IAM tour participate in a sharing of cultures. Where ordinary tourists visit far-away places and take from their experiences, but the IAM students also give.
Breakthrough moments occurred on past IAM tours when the students realized America’s national march, the “Stars and Stripes Forever” by John Philip Sousa, is also a well-known and popular march in Europe. Performing and participating in a musical heritage of more than 1,000 years gives the choir students a chance to add a new page in the cultural venue of Europe.
Morgan Jones, professor emeritus from the University of Iowa, is the founder and executive director of the Iowa Ambassador of Music tour. William Carson, Coe College director of bands, is the tour administrator and director. Carson conducts the IAM band, and Lee Nelson of Wartburg College conducts the choir.
Some 40 Iowa music teachers and musicians assist in the musical preparation of the ensembles, with the music teachers instructing the students during the rehearsals in Grinnell, performing in the ensembles next to the students and serving as advisors on the tour.
The 2018 European tour is IAM’s 16th trip since the group was established in 1988. More than 5,000 student musicians have delighted European audiences with their performances as the Iowa Ambassadors of Music.
