KHS Band

Upcoming Events
March 25 - Louis Fuchs Concert
May 15 - Spring Concert

Louis Fuchs/Otto Ninow Memorial Concert

The Louis Fuchs/Otto Ninow Memorial Concert returned in 2023, after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic!
This Year's Concert Date - March 25, 2025
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Brief History of the Concert

This concert has existed since 1978. It was originally performed as the Louis Fuchs Memorial Concert on May 22, 1977. Louis was a music teacher in the valley for over 30 years. The year after he died, his former students requested a concert be performed in his memory. In 1996, Otto Ninow, conductor of the Mount Washington Valley Band, owner of the local music store, and philanthropist, passed away. The music teachers of SAU#9 & #13 thought it would be appropriate to honor both men and so the concert was renamed. The concert has always been performed during the month of March (during Music in Our Schools Month) and has become a Valley tradition.

Otto Ninow

Otto Ninow was born in Bremen, Germany in 1910 , and was a professional musician in Germany before coming to the Mt. Washington Valley in 1962 with his wife. He played several instruments during the course of his musical career but settled on saxophone as his favorite. At one point, he smuggled a saxophone into Germany from Czechoslovakia.

He survived imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp. He was offered a job as director of the Dresden State Opera and took a job teaching in an American dependents' school in hopes that someone would sponsor his emigration to the United States.

Both he and his wife thought of their home in Jackson as a dream house in paradise. He opened a music store in North Conway, conducted the Mt. Washington Valley Band, and was a philanthropist within the community. He sponsored both civic and musical projects while encouraging everyone to experience and enjoy music. His motto: Life without music would be a mistake. He died on February 19th, 1996 at the age of 86.

Louis R. Fuchs

Louis Fuchs was a former instrumental music teacher who died in 1977. Born in Switzerland on February 23rd, 1907, he came to America to play at the Swiss Pavilion at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. He settled in North Conway in 1944 where he played in the Eastern Slope Inn Orchestra. Mr. Fuchs taught in SAU#9 and Fryeburg for many years until his retirement in 1976.

Some of the grandparents of the students in this concert began their musical study with Mr. Fuchs. He was a devoted and conscientious teacher who loved his students and formed lasting friendships with many of them. Some of his students went on to become professional musicians themselves.

Through the years, he shared his love of music with others in many ways. Many remember him playing his cello in churches; playing the bass fiddle at the Eastern Slope Inn, eyebrows dancing; playing the alp horn, dressed in the beautiful Swiss outfit he always wore for such occasions; and marching with the elementary school band at parades.

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