Countywide : 3 O.C. Youths Join European Band Tour

Three Orange County high school students are on a nine-concert European tour with the American Musical Ambassadors Band.

The students are Jennifer Fisher of Fountain Valley and Jean Kim of Westminster, both juniors this fall at La Quinta High School, and San Juan Capistrano resident Jason Minch, who graduated this year from Capistrano Valley High School in Mission Viejo.

The band, which is made up of students from across the country, is divided into two touring groups of 106 members each. The conductors are Prof. Robert Foster from the University of Kansas, and Prof. Richard Floyd from the University of Texas.

The American Musical Ambassadors Band has performed in European cities for the past 22 years.

So far, nearly 5,000 young musicians have taken part in the tours, which are designed to foster cultural appreciation and personal relationships between Europeans and Americans.

The students assembled in Washington in early July for rehearsals and a concert before flying to Holland on July 8.

Tour stops are scheduled in Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France and England before the students return home July 28.

Band members are performing works by American and European composers including John Philip Sousa, Gustav Mahler, Robert E. Foster and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

In addition to appearing at concert halls and major parks, the students are visiting European sites of musical and historical importance and making stops at popular tourist attractions.

Organizing and directing the tour is Maxine Lefever, who was a member of the band faculty at Purdue University for 25 years.