In honor of the 50^th anniver­sary of the Starr Building, three FSU bands will be putting on a com­mem­o­ra­tive con­cert fea­tur­ing a guest con­duc­tor from Spain.

The con­cert will take place Feb. 19 at 4 p.m. in Williams Auditorium. Llorenç Mendoza-Ruiz, award win­ning con­duc­tor from Valencia, Spain, will be guest con­duct­ing part of the pro­gram.

Calder Baker, FSU sopho­more in busi­ness admin­is­tra­tion, is not a reg­u­lar band mem­ber, but will be play­ing the banjo at the concert.

“I fig­ured it was a good oppor­tu­nity for me to get out and have some fun and per­form,” Baker said.

Ferris has three dif­fer­ent bands that will be per­form­ing: Symphony Band, West Central Concert Band, and West Central Chamber Orchestra. They will be play­ing some Spanish songs as well as songs that were orig­i­nally per­formed in the ded­i­ca­tion of the Starr Building.

Jessica Westman, FSU fresh­man in pre-nursing, is excited for the oppor­tu­nity to work with a Spanish direc­tor and expe­ri­ence a piece of that cul­ture. Westman is excited to play some Spanish pieces that have never been heard by most Americans.

“We’re also play­ing music from Spain, which our direc­tor said a lot of peo­ple in this coun­try have never played before. It’s kind of cool to be the new fron­tier of that,” Westman said.

Sam Whittaker, FSU junior in crim­i­nal jus­tice, said this is a good way to earn the band some well deserved publicity.

“I just think it’s a great oppor­tu­nity for peo­ple to see the other side of Ferris because the music pro­gram isn’t as big and a lot of peo­ple don’t know much about it,” Whittaker said. “We do have a great pro­gram with all the bands, and I think it’s a great oppor­tu­nity for peo­ple to come in and expe­ri­ence the Spanish conductor.”

This con­cert is free and open to the public.