An event a century in the making brought Milford student musicians to Cincinnati Music Hall last weekend.
The Milford Exempted Village Schools band program celebrated its 100th anniversary with a special performance at Cincinnati Music Hall on March 8. This marked a milestone for one of the district’s longest continuously running programs.
Milford’s band program began during the 1924–25 school year, when music instruction first began taking shape in the district. Over the past century, the program has grown into one of the district’s most enduring and celebrated traditions.
“We are celebrating 100 years of our Milford band program,” said Josh Kauffman, Milford Schools director of fine arts. “Music Hall is such an iconic part of Cincinnati’s history, and even though Milford is in the suburbs, it’s still very much part of this community. Celebrating there brings the city’s musical legacy together with ours.”
Opened in 1878, Cincinnati Music Hall is one of the city’s most iconic cultural landmarks and has hosted generations of world-class musicians, including the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops.
For Milford’s student performers, the opportunity to take the stage was both rare and memorable.
“I’ve never been there before, but seeing what it looks like, it almost feels like a movie scene,” said Fernando Llerena, a Milford High School senior saxophonist. “Being able to perform there and connect with the community beyond Milford is an incredible opportunity.”
Llerena plans to continue music after graduation this year. He hopes to pursue a degree in saxophone performance at the University of Cincinnati or The Ohio State University, with the performance at Music Hall serving as a memorable milestone as he prepares for the next step in his musical journey.
“We’re really fortunate that Milford has great facilities for our students to rehearse and perform,” Kauffman said. “But acoustically, the best place for our band to perform on campus is our high school gymnasium, which can be challenging for music. This gave our students a once-in-a-hundred-year opportunity to perform on a world-class stage in a hall built for music.”
Kauffman first began exploring the idea for the centennial concert nearly a year ago after realizing the milestone was approaching. With support from the Cincinnati Arts Association, along with the Milford Schools Foundation and Milford Band Boosters, the plan gradually came together.
To honor both the history of Music Hall and the legacy of Milford Schools, the concert program reflected a blend of tradition and innovation. Directors selected a mix of classical and contemporary works, including “Convergences” by Robert Sheldon, a recently premiered piece and a band transcription of Bach’s “Arioso” as a tribute to the orchestral music that has filled Music Hall for generations.
The program also included “Rocket Ship” by composer Kevin Day, a modern work that highlights another defining part of Milford’s musical tradition.
“It’s a fairly new piece, but it features a marching snare drum. I wanted to include something that honors our legacy as a strong marching program and gives people that feeling of being on the field during a halftime show, said Tim Dailey, director of bands at Milford High School.”
For Kauffman, the opportunity to perform at Music Hall is about more than just a concert. It is about creating a lasting memory for the students.
“I hope someday when they’re bringing their families to see the symphony or ‘The Nutcracker’ here, they can lean over and say, ‘I performed on that stage too,’” Kauffman said. “That’s the kind of core memory we hope they take away from this experience.