Winter Guard Success at Athena Spectacular

Congratulations to the Winter Guard for their performances at the Athena Spectacular on Saturday. The team placed 3rd in the AAA Lyrical Flag category and 2nd in the AAA Tall Flag category.

Winter Guard Qualifies for State!

Congratulations to the Winter Guard, and Head Coach Emily Rivera, for their performances at the Andrew High School Team Dance Illinois Regional Competition this past weekend. The team placed 6th in the Division 1 Tall Flag category and 5th in the Division 1 Lyrical Flag category and also qualified their Tall Flag routine for the TDI State Competition based on their high scores for the day.

Way to go DGN Winter Guard!

NIU Jazz Concert at DGN Cancelled

All District 99 scheduled events for Thursday, February 3rd have been canceled.  The buildings are completely shut-down, and consequently the Northern Illinois University / District 99 Jazz Concert has been canceled.  

As you can appreciate, this is all unfolding rather quickly.  We have no further information at this time regarding ticket refunds, or how those will be processed.  As soon as we have more information we will of course let you know.

DGN Jazz Students Find Success at Purdue

Members of the Downers Grove North High School Jazz Bands took their show on the road this past weekend, participating in the 21st Annual Purdue University Jazz Festival. The Purdue festival, which draws outstanding high school jazz programs from Indiana, Michigan and Illinois, began on Friday, January 21 with a concert featuring the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra from New York and continued all day Saturday, January 22 with hundreds of student musicians performing for panels of internationally recognized jazz musicians.

The DGN Jazz Ensemble performed in the Loeb Playhouse and earned a Division I rating. Six students from this band garnered Outstanding Soloist/Musicianship awards. Congratulations to Sebastian Calvino (trombone), Justine Hung (piano), John Janke (guitar), Spencer Schillerstrom (tenor sax), Zach Schneeweis (trombone), and Isaac Stevenson (percussion).

The DGN Jazz Lab Band, performing in the North Ballroom had eight students recognized with Soloist/Musicianship Awards. Congratulations to Rachel Clivaz (piano), Jeremy Craven (trumpet), Connor Dimmick (guitar), Tommy Donnelly (trumpet), Steve Janke (bass), Brendan McBride (alto sax), John McGarry (trombone), and PJ O'Hara (percussion), for earning this distinction from the adjudicators.

The DGN Jazz Combo performed in the Faculty Lounge, and were lauded by the adjudication pannel for their creative programming and musical arrangements. Congratulations to Nolan Schillerstrom (guitar), Spencer Schillerstrom (tenor sax), Isaac Stevenson (percussion), and James Tandaric (bass) for their Soloist/Musicianship Awards in this division of the competition.

"Our students enjoy the opportunity to attend this great Jazz Festival each year because we have the chance to hear so many wonderful jazz ensembles and soloists. Having 18 musicians recognized with awards is a credit to the hard work and dedication of our North High students," said department chairperson and music teacher Brayer Teague.

The community is invited to hear the award winning DGN and DGS Johnson Auditorium as they share the stage with the renowned NIU Jazz Ensemble and guest artist Ernie Watts at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 3, 2011.  Tickets are $8 ($6 for students) and available at the door.

Jazz Ensemble in Performance at Purdue

Great job, band!

Jazz Ensemble Warming Up

Lab Band just had a great performance. Jazz Ensemble is up next at the Purdue Jazz Festival!

Class of 2011

Pep Band @ Winter Classic

Jazz Cafe - TOMS Shoes

Congratulations to the members of the Herrick, Jefferson and DGN Jazz Bands for their terrific performances tonight. We commend our students and musical community for embracing the TOMS Shoes 'One for One' initiative.

Jazz Cafe Warm Up

Guest artist Scott Stevenson practices with the DGN Jazz Ensemble today in preparation for the 2011 Jazz Cafe.