The WVU Wind Symphony will present a concert titledLegends and Tall Tales,Sunday afternoon, Oct. 12, at 3:15 p.m. at Eiesland Hall on the downtown campus. Conducted by WVU Director of Bands Don Wilcox, this will be the first full concert of the year for the Wind Symphony.

Also conducting will be Associate Director of Bands John Hendricks and graduate student Nikki Gross.

The first half of the program will feature Symphony #1, Lord of the Rings by internationally known composer Johan DeMeij. The Lord of the Rings is based on the fantasy trilogy of that name by the British writer J.R.R. Tolkien and consists of five movements, each illustrating a person or an important episode in the book. These include a wild ride withGandalf the Wizard,Lothlorien,in which the Hobbit Frodo meets Lady Galadriel in the beautiful elvenwood;Gollum,with the hisses and lisps of the hideous Smeagol represented by the soprano saxophone;Journey In The Darkthrough tunnels pursued by hostile creatures; andHobbits,in which the peaceful creatures dance, sing a hymn for their safe return, and watch Frodo and Gandalf sail away in a white ship.

Following intermission will be The Flying Dutchman Overture by Richard Wagner, who is well known for his orchestral works and especially for his operas. He exerted a powerful influence on every component of opera, including the expanded use of wind instruments. The Flying Dutchman concerns a man condemned to sail the seas on a ghost ship. Every seven years he is cast on shore and given the opportunity to find a wife who will be faithful to him until death.

Icarus and Daedalus by Keith Gates, was commissioned by the United States Air Force Band at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. The one-movement composition illustrates the story of the mythological Greek inventor Daedalus and his son Icarus, who were imprisoned on the island of Crete and ordered by King Minos to construct a labyrinth. In order to escape, Daedalus fashions two pairs of wings out of seagull feathers and wax. But Icarus flies too close to the sun, which melts his wings, and he plunges headlong to his death in the raging Icarian sea. This work will be conducted by Associate Director of Bands John Hendricks.

The next work will be Mystery on Mena Mountain by Julie Giroux. This is a popular programmatic piece first played and recorded by Frank Wickes and the Louisiana State University Wind Ensemble in 1985. The title refers to a story of two children who disappeared in the vicinity of Mena Mountain in 1940. According to Ozark legend, the two children set out to climb Mena Mountain and meet angels who were believed to live in the clouds above. Graduate student Nikki Gross will conduct this piece.

The program will conclude with Tam OShanter by Malcolm Arnold, the highly respected English composer who combines traditional music with the 20th century sounds of jazz, pop, and brass bands. Tam OShanter is the hero of a poem by the great Scottish poet Robert Burns. The drunken farmer, while riding home late one stormy night from Ayr, disturbs a witchesparty in the haunted church of Alloway. The hags pursue him to the keystone of the bridge over the river Doon, but stop there because they cannot cross running water. One witch, however, plucks the tail from his mare, Maggie.

For tickets to the Wind Symphony Concert, contact the Mountainlair Box Office at (304) 293-SHOW.