BHS Band to premiere new piece at free Friday night performance

Batesville High School Band Director Michael Walker.

BATESVILLE, IN — The Batesville High School Band will hold a free preview show tonight (Friday) at 7:00 at the school, which they’ll use as a warm-up for the group’s performance at the Indiana State School Music Association (ISSMA) competition next month.

The band will premiere a march written specifically with BHS in mind.

“I have a friend who is a composer,” said Batesville High School Band Director Michael Walker. “He is an English composer and is well-known for writing British marches, and I’ve been in contact with him and we were having a talk when I moved to Batesville and he offered to write the piece for us.

“It’s not very often you get to ‘world premiere’ a piece of music or something that’s specifically written for you, so we’re very proud of it,” Walker added.

The band will play the piece again when it takes part in the ISSMA competition at Franklin Community Middle School on April 9 at 11:30 am.