Eli Regier, Bethel College senior from Newton, has been selected for a regional honor band.
Regier will represent Bethel – and private Kansas colleges – in the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) Southwest Division Intercollegiate Honor Band at the annual conference, which takes place this year from Feb. 28-March 2 in Kansas City.
He will perform on tenor saxophone alongside college students from across a region that includes Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah.
Dr. John Lynch, director of bands and professor of music at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, conducts the Intercollegiate Honor Band.
“This is a very exciting thing for Eli and for our department,” said Chris Miertschin, Bethel director of bands. “He will be performing alongside peers from top institutions in the region.
“To be selected for a regional intercollegiate ensemble is a great honor, and Eli will get the experience of being under the baton of a great conductor with Dr. Lynch.”
He continued, “To my knowledge, he will be one of very few students – if not the only student – representing private Kansas schools in this ensemble.
“In the same way that high school students compete for the top honor of performing in the KMEA All-State Band, college students compete for the CBDNA National and Regional Intercollegiate Bands,” Miertschin noted.
“Oftentimes larger state schools, and particularly Texas schools, have the lion’s share of representation in groups like this, so for Eli to be selected to perform truly speaks to his talents and those within the music department at Bethel College.”
In addition, junior Peter Buller, Inman, oboe, and first-year Seth Balzer, Hurley, S.D., tuba, were selected as Honor Band alternates for the March convention.
Bethel is a four-year liberal arts college founded in 1887 and is the oldest Mennonite college in North America. Bethel ranks at #23 in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of “Best Regional Colleges Midwest” for 2023-24. Bethel was the first Kansas college or university to be named a Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Center, in 2021. For more information, see https://www.bethelks.edu
