One of Rock Island's own orchestra teachers, Matthew Manweiler, just finished up performing a short two concert tour with the band Foreigner as a member of The Dave Eggar Orchestra for celebrating Foreigner's 40th year anniversary. Foreigner's timeless anthems continue to rock the charts with ten multi-platinum albums, sixteen Top 30 hits and album sales now exceeding 75 million copies. Dave Eggar is best known for his cello performance on Coldplay's "Viva La Vida", and has also performed and recorded with artists in numerous genres including Evanescence, The Who, Beyonce, Pearl Jam, and Fall Out Boy. This tour was a unique experience for all the musicians involved as Foreigner only performed eight concerts worldwide combined with orchestra as a part of this celebration.
Similarly, Mr. Manweiler has worked to expose Rock Island students to a variety of musical genres and world class artists through the Rock Island Orchestra Visiting Artist Series. Rock Island students have workshopped with and performed alongside artists such as the Emmy-winning electric violinist Mark Wood from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, world-renowned Jazz Violinist, Christian Howes, the late local music legend, Ellis Kell, and others including Terry Hanson, Belford Hernandez, The Barley House Band, Milltown, and the Bucktown Revue Collective.
"I enjoyed the tour and had a great experience! It was a very unique honor for me," said Manweiler.
