Pianist to collaborate with kids before Edmonds concert

Alpin Hong plays classical piano but he also skateboards, snowboards, does martial arts and likes videogames.

Put this together and you’ve got a musician who can relate to all audiences, including kids.

That’s partly why The McGraw-Hill Cos. gave him the honor of the Robert Sherman Award for Music Education and Community Outreach, for his ability to inspire and collaborate.

Hong will collaborate with kids before he performs tonight at the Edmonds Center for the Arts.

Hong will visit with and work with students from the Meadowdale High School orchestra, who will be preparing to appear with Hong on stage to play alongside him.

For his performance, Hong, who has been called a modern master of classical piano, will present a repertoire filled with energy.

His biography has him making his orchestral debut at 10 years old with the Kalamazoo Symphony. He earned a master’s degree from The Julliard School.

Hong plays at 7:30 tonight at Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 Fourth Ave. N, Edmonds. Tickets range from $25 to $30, $15 for youth. Call 425-275-9595 or go to www.ec4arts.org.

North Cascades Concert Band: This 50-piece wind band presents its traditional spring concert tonight, “Sousa and His Band,” a salute to conductor John Philip Sousa.

The NCCB’s program will include traditional and contemporary composers along with the famous Sousa marches.

Part of the band’s repertoire will be a performance by the band’s bass trombonist John Boblett who will be featured in “Canticles,” a new composition for bass trombone and wind orchestra by contemporary Dutch composer Johan de Meij.

Another highlight will be a piece based on Ernest Thayer’s 1888 poem “Casey at the Bat” with narration by band member Warren Hopkins.

The NCCB spring concert will begin at 7:30 tonight at the Linda M. Byrnes Performing Arts Center, 18821 Crown Ridge Blvd., at Arlington High School.

Tickets are $12, $10 and $5.

Get tickets at the door or at several downtown Arlington shops including Flowers by George, 335 N Olympic Ave.; Copy, Mail and More, 526 NW Ave.; and Cinderella Beauty Salon, 108 E. Fifth St.

For information about the band visit www.nccband.org.

Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424; goffredo@heraldnet.com.