News release Public Information Office   SLU 10880   Hammond, LA 70402   phone: 985-549-2341   fax: 985-549-2061 publicinfo@selu.edu     www.selu.edu/news Contact: Christina Chapple Date: 2/27/03   Click on image for publication quality photo SLU’S HEMBERGER TO CONDUCT INTERNATIONAL HONOR BAND       HAMMOND -- Glen Hemberger, director of bands at Southeastern Louisiana University, will travel to the Netherlands March 13-15 to conduct an international honor band composed of students from 48 countries.       Hemberger was invited to serve as guest conductor for the 20th annual Association for Music in International Schools (AMIS) Festival at the American School of the Hague. He will conduct the festival’s International Honor Band, and will also direct the festival finale on March 15.        Performed by the combined band and honor chorus, the finale will be the world premiere of “Hymn for Nations United,” which was composed by former Southeastern music faculty member Richard Prior, now a member of the faculty at Oklahoma State University. Prior’s composition, commissioned by AMIS, is based on the United Nations Hymn with text by W. H. Auden.       “This is truly a special event of global outreach,” Hemberger said. Students audition for the AMIS festival from far flung locations such as Amman, New Delhi, Dhaka, Israel, Dubai, Japan, Warsaw, Prague, and Thailand. The selected ensembles of musicians and singers present a concert after two days of rehearsals with guest conductors. Hemberger will share guest conducting duties with Bruce Rogers of Mt. San Antonio College, who will direct the International Honor Choir. .        At Southeastern, Hemberger directs the university’s acclaimed Wind Symphony. As director of bands, he guides all aspects of Southeastern’s band program and coordinates the Department of Music and Dramatic Arts’ instrumental performance division.        Locally, he  will conduct the Wind Symphony in two concerts this spring. At the Slidell High School Auditorium on April 10, the Wind Symphony will present a 3 p.m. concert for area schools and a 7:30 p.m. concert for the general public. On May 5, the symphony will present “Come Memory,” a concert featuring guest clarinetist John Bruce Yeh, and the Southeastern Concert Choir, University Chorus and Northshore Chorale. The concert is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Southeastern’s Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts in downtown Hammond.       Before joining the Southeastern faculty, Hemberger served as associate director of bands at Oklahoma State University, where he was selected the music department's outstanding faculty member in 1977. He also taught at the University of Rhode Island and was director of bands at Thornton High School in Colorado.        Hemberger is a graduate of University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of North Texas. He has appeared extensively as a conductor, clinician and lecturer throughout the United States, Scandinavia, Asia and Australia. He was the first American to conduct the Chinese Military Armed Police Band housed at Tiananmen Square in Beijing. He was selected as the only American clinician and adjudicator for the 1999 Yamaha European Open International Band Festival and the Norwegian School Band Championships held in Hamar, Norway, and the 2000 Norwegian National Wind Band Championships in Trondheim. Return to News Releases