VENTURA : 31 High School Students Chosen for Festival Band

More than 30 Ventura County students will give up sunbathing, swimming and surfing to prepare for the 1991 Olympic Festival Marching Band.

The students, selected for their leadership and musical talent, will join the 700-piece all-star band representing 75 high schools from San Diego to Riverside, said Arthur C. Bartner, director of the USC Trojan Marching Band.

The musicians and flag bearers will take part in the opening festivals at Dodger Stadium on July 12 to kick off events in which athletes compete for a place in the 1992 Olympics.

“They’re the best musicians from the bands represented,” said Anthony Fox, assistant band director at USC. The group will participate in more than 36 hours of rehearsal.

He and Bartner will lead the ensemble, which includes 15 students from Buena High, 10 from Thousand Oaks High and 6 from Ventura High.

Buena High School junior Karl Spoentgen, 15, a trombone player, will participate in the band.

He said he will spend his days commuting to practices in Los Altos, Whittier and Dodger Stadium, and rehearsing and memorizing songs.

Bartner said he wants to bring back the enthusiasm that he found in the 800-piece all-American college band that performed at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

“That’s really what the Olympics are all about, young athletes competing,” he said. “We want to present that in our show.”

The band, which will also include college musicians, performs the event’s opening number, “Fanfare and Theme.”

The event will be produced by Radio City Music Hall Productions, Executive Producer Wayne Baruch said.

During the band performances, an Emmy Award-winning choreographer will direct a production number featuring a cast of nearly 1,000 dancers, a 1,000-voice choir and 500 ethnic performers in “The Olympic Tradition Continues in Los Angeles,” he said.