Viking Jazz Ensemble

Western Loudoun’s premier high school jazz ensemble, Viking Jazz, will provide a performance at Franklin Park Arts Center on Sunday, May 20th at 2:00 pm. Tickets are $8 for all ages.  Tickets can be reserved by calling the box office at 540-338-7973.

The Loudoun Valley High School Viking Jazz Ensemble is under the direction of Band Director and Jazz Musician, Rick Reaves. Over the last 12 years the Band has received no less than superior ratings at local and regional Jazz Festivals. It is part of a School Music Program that has been named to the Top One Hundred School Music Programs in the Nation. The Band has won numerous awards including Grand Champion at Fiesta-Val New York City in 2006 and 2009.

Rick Reaves, originally from Endicott, NY, started teaching in Corbin, Kentucky in 1975. He is a graduate of Union College in Barbourville, Kentucky, and has taught in five states, at the middle, high school and college level. He is still a performing Musician, and Conductor, and has performed across the US and Europe. He has taught the past 28 years in the Northern Virginia area and was recently awarded the Shenandoah University teacher of the Year Award for 2009-2010.  Reaves has been band director at Loudoun Valley HS for the past 13 years, and is also a member of the Purcellville Fire Company. “I am truly blessed to teach in a place where the arts are valued and nurtured,” he said in accepting the award.

The Franklin Park Arts Center opened on February 2, 2008 after more than a decade of fundraising and construction. The 2012 summer season runs thru August.  For more information visit www.franklinparkartscenter.org