Leelanau County residents are in for a musically entertaining treat Saturday — The Michigan State University (MSU) Jazz Orchestra will perform on stage with Grammynominated pianist Bobby Floyd at the Suttons Bay High School auditorium at 3 p.m. There will also be a free open rehearsal for students and community members from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.
“I’m just really excited to get to show these students at Suttons Bay a high quality concert and expose them to these high quality musicians,” said Dante Billeci, Suttons Bay School 5-12 band teacher. “The intention of all of this is to inspire the students and encourage them to continue in the band program and get excited about music… Everyone is invited in the community, from students to staff members at Suttons Bay, to just people in the region who want to hear a good concert.”
Billeci is also a recent music education and jazz studies graduate of MSU, and previously played in the same MSU jazz orchestra as a saxophonist. He said while the touring jazz orchestra allows MSU students to get more performance experience, it’s also a great opportunity for Michigan students to connect and learn from professional musicians.
“I remember when I was in the (MSU) band, we’d interact with kids who felt inspired and said things like ‘I want to play in that band once I get old enough,’ or ‘I want to go and perform with the MSU musicians,’ so it’s been inspiring them to work harder and see themselves in a couple of years being great musicians as well,” he said.
The Suttons Bay School band program has come a long way since Billeci took on the role as band teacher in August last year. The program, currently made up of about 70 students, is separated by grades, with the fifth graders, middle schoolers, and high schoolers all in their own respective bands.
Over the last school year, high schoolers have played in a pep band for school basketball games and have participated in the Solo & Ensemble Festival, middle schoolers played in a honor band in Petoskey, and students have performed in the district’s winter concert and are now preparing to play in an upcoming Wizard of Oz musical in May.
“We are miles ahead of where we were six or seven months ago. I remember when I walked into the band room in August or so, I played through the entire inventory of instruments, and I think we have about 170 instruments, and about 50 of them needed to be repaired,” he said. “There’s just so much happening at this school and I’m just so proud of these kids for persevering and putting in all this hard work because if they keep putting all this hard work in, I can’t wait to see where we grow and where we keep moving toward.”
Concert tickets, which can be bought at the door or online at https:// mynorthtickets. com/ events/ msu- jazz- orchestra- iwith- bobby-floyd-3-30-2024, are $5 for students (18-years-old and under) and $10 for adults 19-years-old and over. All proceeds from tickets go towards supporting the Suttons Bay arts program.
“The money can be used for a variety of things for the program like equipment, or it might be new music… And we want to fund more trips for band students moving forward to go on,” he said. “One thing that we’re excited about happening at the school is we’ve been hiring local musicians from the area to come in and work with students and give them more one-on-one attention. So we’d be able to pay for those experiences for students, too.”
