Life

Movie themed concert to benefit HHS band, Flat Rock Cinema

HHS symphonic band performs in California.

By Bill Moss, Published: May 4, 2012

The Hendersonville High School Concert, Symphonic and Jazz Bands will present a movie-themed Memorial Day concert to benefit the HHS band program and Flat Rock Cinema's digital conversion project on Monday, May 28, at 4 PM in the HHS auditorium.

The concert will feature music from composer John Williams and from Disney and Pixar films, among many others.

 

HHS band director Fran Shelton says the Flat Rock Cinema has always been a supporter of local schools and the band programs by offering the cinema for a place to host fundraisers to help pay for their competition trips.

"When the students learned about the situation at the cinema, the kids immediately said 'The Moltons and their staff have always supported us and helped us raise money, so now we should step up and help them.' They thought it would be really cool to do a movie-themed concert at the cinema. The response was so positive that we knew the cinema wouldn't be big enough so we decided to use our high school auditorium."

The Moltons' son, Brice, plays trombone in the band and their daughter, Jessica Owenby, played clarinet when the band won the national competition at Carnegie Hall in 2004.

"We were surprised when we heard the students wanted to do this for us," Howard Molton said. "We usually just host the jazz band to raise money for the band program so it was even more special when we found out all of the HHS bands would be participating. A lot has changed since we were kids growing up here but one thing hasn't - the generosity of our community and it says a lot about these kids and how they were raised."

The band took first place in the public schools category last month in California. "After working so hard for the California competition, it's humbling to know these students want to turn right around and learn new music and add a concert to their busy schedule just for us," said Barb Molton, who is also a chaperone for the competitions. "So we need to support this band and this is a great opportunity to expose our patrons and more of our community to these talented students and raise money for them, too. Everybody wins and the kids feel good about giving back to their community."

Flat Rock Cinema recently secured a loan from Macon Bank with help from the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center for a portion of the new equipment cost. All of the funds raised for this concert were originally designed to go towards items not covered by their loan but the Moltons insisted on giving half of the money back to the HHS band program.

Doors open at 3:30 for pre-concert music. Tickets are $10 and are available at the HHS office, Speranza's Weather House at 100 6th Avenue East in Hendersonville, and at Flat Rock Cinema. Visit www.FlatRockCinema.com for more information.