Kauai Community College has the distinction of being the only college in the University of Hawaii community college system with an instrumental ensemble program. To mark the end of another successful semester, the KCC Wind Symphony’s Winter Concert was held
Kauai Community College has the distinction of being the only college in the University of Hawaii community college system with an instrumental ensemble program.
To mark the end of another successful semester, the KCC Wind Symphony’s Winter Concert was held on Saturday and the KCC Symphony Orchestra’s concert will take place 7 p.m. Friday in the KCC Performing Arts Center. Admission is free with donations gratefully accepted.
Along with traditional holiday favorites, the Symphony Orchestra will perform Haydn’s “Symphony No. 104” and Arcangelo Corelli’s “Christmas Concerto,” arranged for full orchestra by ensemble members Taylor and Daniel Welch.
Many of the members of the two ensembles will also be participating in the Kauai All-Island Band which will perform in the National Memorial Day Parade in Washington, D.C. next year.
The college’s instrumental ensembles welcome all musicians of any age who have had at least a year of lessons. Participants have the option of either taking the course for college credit or as community members through the Office of Continuing Education and Training. For more information on the concerts and/or the ensembles, contact ensemble director Sarah Tochiki at (808) 387-6772 or tochikis@hawaii.edu.
KCC Hawaiian Studies instructor Dennis Chun announced that the new voyaging canoe Namahoe will be launched in the early part of 2016. Working within the Hawaiian Studies Department’s Polynesian Voyaging Program, Chun and a large number of students have devoted long hours to preparing the canoe for its maiden voyage.
The launching of Namahoe will be the culmination of more than 15 years of fundraising, planning, and hard work, Chun said. The launch will also mark the beginning of an expanded voyaging program which will include a smaller, trailer-abled sailing canoe that will be used to train prospective sailors for crewing and sailing Namahoe.
“The overall purpose of the voyaging program is to complement information learned in the classroom with practical knowledge and experience,” Chun said.
He went on to say that the program will emphasize the sciences, math, culture, history, literature and the arts.
Information on Namahoe and the Hawaiian Studies program, call Dennis Chun at 245-8202.
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As part of its international education effort, the college will present a free showing of “Pictures from a Hiroshima Schoolyard” from noon to 1:30 p.m. Thursday in OCET 106. The film is a documentary which focuses on an American pastor in Washington, D.C. who inspired his congregation to collect school supplies for the children of Honkawa Elementary School in Hiroshima at the end of World War II.
In December of 1947, a ton of school supplies and other gifts were delivered to the children of the school. In gratitude, the children sent a collection of drawings to the pastor and his congregation which showed in brilliant color the children’s memories of better times and their hopes and dreams for the future. Info: 245-8318.
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Greg Shepherd is a professor of music and drama Kauai Community College.
