Coastal Carolina University will host the Third Annual Coastal Honor Band and Scholarship Festival on Sunday, Feb. 1, at 2 p.m. in Wheelwright Auditorium. Admission is free and open to the public, but tickets are required.

The event, featuring regional high school instrumental band students, is a culmination of four days of rehearsal, concerts, master classes and recitals on the University campus. The event will include performances by the Festival Wind Ensemble and Coastal Honor Band, directed by guest conductors Ken Bodiford, director of bands at Jacksonville State University (JSU) ,and internationally respected composer Robert Sheldon. High school seniors have the option to audition for music scholarships, and players awarded at the event will participate in Coastal Carolina University bands in the 2009 fall semester.

Bodiford, who has directed the band program at JSU since 1994, has grown the program from 144 members to more than 300. He has initiated events such as Drums Across America Drum Corps competition, and annual Wind Ensemble Concerto competition and more. He recently assumed the position of executive director of the JSU SPIRIT Drum and Bugle Corps, a group that tours the nation and competes during the summer.

Sheldon taught instrumental music in the Florida and Illinois public schools. He served on the faculty at Florida State University, where he taught conducting and instrumental music education classes, and he directed the university bands. He has conducted numerous regional and all-state honor bands throughout the United States and abroad, is conductor of the Prairie Wind Ensemble at Illinois Central College and teaches composition at Bradley University.

Tickets may be picked up from Wheelwright Box Office Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information, contact the Wheelwright Box Office at 843-349-2502.