Earlier this month, Westborough High School had the amazing opportunity to host some students from the school Gymnasium Heide-Ost (GHO) in Heide, Germany for a memorable joint band concert. Originally, this was planned to happen in 2020, but was canceled due to COVID. The show was a great success with both bands showcasing their talents and sharing their love of music with the rest of the town.
“This was such a wonderful event,” Mr. Doyle comments “and seeing the students share their culture and musicianship with one another was such a marvelous thing.”
The director of WHS bands, Mr. Doyle, was originally put in contact with the Director of GHO, Matthias Heidenreich through Matthew Westgate, the Director of Bands at UMass Amherst. After the first attempt at this event had been canceled, Mr. Heidenreich reached out again last year to see if the event could happen. Both the administration and the Fine Arts Department were ecstatic to be able to continue with this opportunity once again.
On this visit, there were 47 students and 3 chaperones (the band director, and two English teachers). These students were all around the same age as the students here at WHS with the exception of a few performers who are in college and came back because their original trip had been canceled.
WHS families had the pleasure of hosting these students. Many of these families came from the band, but multiple other families from around the town offered to host one of the band students. This was no simple task to coordinate and execute, but the WHS community did a spectacular job stepping up, leaving the guests raving about the experience.
Senior Dilara Godfrey says, “It was so nice to have Axinia [German band member] stay with us. She was super sweet and it was a completely unique experience for both of us. I would definitely do this again if I had the choice”.
While reflecting on the event, Mr. Doyle says that the only thing he would have changed would be to have the band perform a piece together. Due to the early timing of the event, both bands had to practice separate music and weren’t able to perform one music piece together. Despite this, the bands did a wonderful job with their respective pieces and were able to create an environment to share both cultures. At the moment, there are no plans for future collaborations with GHO or another school, but the band is excited about any possibility of continuing with these exchange collaborations.
Mr. Doyle states, “I really enjoyed the concert event. It was so nice to share the stage with the GHO Symphonic Band…Overall, I’m thrilled with how the event turned out.”
