TrumpetFest: Benefit CSS and celebrate the trumpet

This Sunday, February 11th, there's an opportunity to hear great trumpet music and support the work of Catholic Social Services (CSS) by attending TrumpetFest at Pius X High School. Featuring local trumpeters Darryl White, Kevin Murray, Maria Pytlik, and more, this annual event is in memory of Mac McCune and Dennis Schneider. A free-will offering is collected for the benefit of CSS.

TrumpetFest
Sun. Feb. 11, 2018 from 3:00-4:30pm at Pius X High School

Kevin Murray, the event organizer and lifelong lover of trumpet, shared with LincolnCMN what the inspiration for TrumpetFest was:

"A friend told me that without CSS counseling, his son would not still be alive. I was on the golf fundraiser committee that is in August, so I decided to start something in the winter to help. Since I was always looking for some place to play myself and I knew most of the locals, I decided to have a Trumpetfest."

The best shows, according to Murray,  "were when Mac and Denny were playing with us." Now, the show is in honor of these local trumpet legends. 

 Darryl White, trumpet professor at UNL, will perform at TrumpetFest along with members of the UNL trumpet studio. His favorite memories of past TrumpetFests were the chances to "make music" with Denny Schneider and Mac McCune. "I miss those guys," he shared, but as audience members get the chance to hear trumpet, White says that they can look forward to hearing "a variety of trumpets that the general public may have never heard before" and "the program selection will include all types of music ranging from classical, jazz, and original music written by some of the performers."

The best thing about the trumpet according to White? "It’s versatility for sure. It can sound as soft and sweet as child’s voice, as lyrical as operatic soprano voice and as powerful as the trumpets in heaven!" His performance of Sicilienne by Maria Von Paradis will be a moment of that sweet and lyrical side of the instrument while he'll also close with great improv.

Maria Pytlik will perform this year again as well: 

"I started playing the trumpet when I was seven years old, and the best part of playing the trumpet in my opinion is the ability to express emotion through the horn and make those listening feel the emotion that is being expressed. I first played for TrumpetFest when I was nine years old, and my favorite experience was listening to Mac McCune play When the Saints Go Marching In."

 Whether you choose to attend TrumpetFest to support the work of CSS, because you love the trumpet, or because you'd like to hear all the variety the instrument has to offer for the first time you're in for a treat!