D99 Honors Band Info (for Wind Ensemble Members)

Students registered for Wind Ensemble in 2011-12 are reminded they should complete the D99 Honors Band Tour Interest Survey by Friday, July 1st.

Please click here for a copy of the letter that was mailed home last month, and contains the link students need to complete the interest survey.

German Music Exchange - Sky Deck and Millennium Park

The weather finally cooperated today, and our friends from Germany enjoyed a terrific day of sights in Chicago. It's so hard to believe that this magical week is quickly coming to an end!

Bietigheim-Bissingen Jugendblasorchester Concert

The musical and cultural exchange that exists between D99 and the BB Germany Music School is now more than a quarter century old. The foundations of this exchange are music, culture and relationships. To celebrate every aspect of this exchange, a concert was held last night in the North High School Johnson Auditorium, featuring the Bietigheim-Bissingen/Germany Music School ensemble JugenBlasOrchester. The North High Wind Ensemble and South High Wind Ensemble also performed on this celebratory event.

The concert opened with a fabulous pre-concert theatre organ recital and got better as the evening progressed. The North and South High Wind Ensembles performed challenging repertoire with poise and precision. The BB Germany Music School JBO then performed a diverse and challenging program, culminating with multiple standing ovations and encore selections. Congratulations to the student musicians from both continents for expanding their boundaries through the sharing of music, of culture, and of relationships.

Prior to the culminating piece of the concert, the faculty and chaperones from the BB Germany Music School and D99 exchanged gifts. This tradition is part of the fabric of nearly every exchange relationship that exists both in the USA and abroad, and we are proud to continue in this habit. Because the exchange is now more than 25 years old, relationships are continuing through generations.

Reimund Schiffer, director of the BB Music School Germany, extended an invitation to the D99 Honors Band to visit Germany in June of 2012, which Brayer Teague on behalf of the students and staff heartily accepted.

H. ROBERT JACOBS - District 99 Fine Arts says good-bye to a good friend ...

It was with sadness that we learned this weekend of the passing of H. Robert Jacobs.  Bob, as the District 99 Music Team knew him, was a community activist extraordinaire, and a dedicated member of the local Kiwanis Club.



Through this organization Mr. Jacobs developed - in consort with then DGS Band Director Alan Roselieb - the International Music Exchange Program between the District 99 schools and the Musikschule of Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany.

Mr. Jacobs supported the music exchange program for nearly twenty-five years, hosting visitors from Germany on many occasions, and developing close friendships with many citizens of Bietigheim-Bissingen. 

Here Mr. Jacobs is seen in June of 2008, meeting with the members of the District 99 Honors Band just moments before the students boarded buses for O'Hare and their plane to Europe.  His message of friendship and compassion was always appreciated and inspiring.  He was quick to recognize and point out to our students that "music knows no borders." 

We will miss Mr. Jabob's very much, and District 99 sends deepest condolences to his family.


Click here, or on the image below to view a 10 min. video documentary of the music exchange program that Mr. Jacobs helped establish.

 







From the Chicago Tribune:

H. Robert Jacobs, age 83, beloved husband of Grace E. Jacobs, nee Kinsey, loving father of Susan K. (Robert M.) Zoelle, Richard L. Jacobs, Theresa M. (Scott A.) Beck, Robert C. (Pamela L.) Jacobs, John M. (Arlene L.) Jacobs and Thomas A. Jacobs, cherished grandfather of Marc, Bradley, Kristin, Joseph, Alexandra, Marissa, Logie, John Robert, Hannah, Clare, Rachel, Jared and Emma Grace, great-grandfather of Ryan Grace, brother of Richard A. (Marti) Jacobs and Marianne (Patrick) Hogan, fond uncle of many nieces and nephews. Visitation Monday 3 to 8p.m. Funeral Tuesday 9:15 a.m. from Adams-Winterfield & Sullivan Funeral Home, 4343 Main St., (1 blk. S. of Ogden Ave.) Downers Grove to St. Mary of Gostyn Church Mass 10 a.m. Interment Clarendon Hills Cemetery. Memorials to University of Illinois - College of ACES, Jonathan Baldwin Turner Scholarship Program I Jacobs Kinsey Scholarship Endowment Fund., 115 ACES LIBRARY, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801. Phone # 217-244-9150.