Donation to help music program

A new Frederick Fennell Winds Studies Program will open at the Orange County High School of the Arts thanks to a $1-million donation by the chairman of its board, John Daniels, and his wife, Sandy.

The program is named after the celebrated American conductor and teacher, who was honored Wednesday at a news conference announcing the gift at the Santa Ana-based school. The program will provide comprehensive wind studies education and expand the school’s collection of instruments, equipment and scores. In 1952, Fennell founded the Eastman Wind Ensemble at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., where he recorded 22 albums for Mercury Records. He later pioneered high-definition compatible digital, or HDCD, recordings with the Dallas Wind Symphony.

-- Chris Pasles