By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
Music lovers, mark you calendars for Thursday, Dec. 4.
That’s when professional soprano saxophonist Dr. Chris Creviston will join the Otsego High School band—under the direction of band director Mitch Piersma—for a very special performance.
Creviston and the OHS band will be premiering a piece from composer Mischa Zupko titled “Azure Sky” before it is made available to the public.
Making the event even more special is that both Creviston (Class of 1986) and Zupko are alumni of Otsego High School.
“We are very excited to have Dr. Creviston return to his hometown,” Piersma said. “He is a phenomenal player and instructor and does not get back to Michigan very much. So, it means a lot that he can do this in his busy schedule.”
Creviston, who received his bachelor of music from Michigan State University before earning his master of music and doctor of music arts degrees from the University of Michigan, is a professor of saxophone at Arizona State University
“In addition to having a lot of college responsibilities, Dr. Creviston is also the soprano saxophone player for the Capitol Quartet, a professional saxophone quartet that tours and performs together,” Piersma said.
A few years ago, Creviston approached Piersma with the idea of having the OHS band join a consortium with other schools. The schools in this consortium—which also includes Mountain Ridge High School in Arizona and Niskayuna High School in New York—would then pay to have a piece commissioned for them.
All of the schools involved have original rights to perform it before it goes public.
“The idea for us was to apply for a performance at the Michigan Music Conference held at DeVos Place in January, and also have a hometown performance,” Piersma said. “We did not get accepted this year for MMC, but will try again next year.
“However, we are going to do the hometown performance on Dec. 4, with Dr. Creviston performing the solo part to ‘Azure Sky.’”
“Azure Sky” is a concerto for saxophone and band.
In addition to performing with the OHS band, Creviston will also hold a master class with the band’s saxophone players while back in his hometown.
He did something similar in 2014.
“I remember he worked with individual students,” Piersma said. “Some wanted one on one time, and others just wanted to watch. But the stage was filled with saxophone players.
“I imagine he will do a similar format again.”
The performance on Dec. 4 is open to the public, with Piersma urging community members to come out and watch the OHS band with one of its most successful alumni.
“We’d love to have as many people there as possible,” Piersma said.
