The WVU Percussion Ensembles Concert, to be held Oct. 30 and 31 at the WVU Mountainlair Ballrooms, will feature music from the popular movieDrumline,as well as a special performance by the WVU Steel Band and many other surprises to help celebrate WVU s Homecoming weekend.
The concert begins at 8 p.m. each evening and is directed by Adam Mason, head of the WVU Percussion program. In addition to the WVU Steel Band, it will feature Percussion 2000 and the WVU Drumline.
This concert definitely ties in with the theme of Homecoming weekend, which isCelebrating Our Own,Mason said.
The performance by the WVU Steel Band will be the same program they will be doing at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, which they will be attending in Louisville, Ky., right after this concert,he said.This is a very prestigious event and the biggest event of its kind in the world.
The program also includesLegend of the Sleeping Bear,with WVU Director of Bands Don Wilcox telling the legend, followed by the classicWest Side Story,which the WVU Percussion Ensemble has performed to popular acclaim since the days when Phil Faini was director.
There will also be music by Van Halen, Men At Work, and the premiere of a new piece titledNew Beginnings,written just for this concert by WVU percussion student Jim Morford, who is in his junior year in the WVU Division of Music and who also has a degree in physics,Mason said.
The WVU percussionists willgo postalwith music that originally came from a recording of postal works in Ghana, West Africa, whistling, stamping their feet, and delivering mail to music. This piece originally came from a recording of World Music put out by the National Geographic Society.
Also on the program will be Masons arrangement of a Brandenberg concerto by J.S. Bach.
The highlight of the program will be the music fromDrumline,arranged by John Burbank, who finished his masters degree in music at WVU last year and who has won five Drum Corps World Championships,Mason said.
He added that there will be lots of other surprises and that the Percussion Ensembles will also present their traditional, special Grand Finale.
Mason, a native of Grafton, graduated from WVU with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1987 and a Masters degree in percussion performance in 1990. During 1991-99 he taught at the University of Southwestern Louisiana. He also was the percussion instructor of the Cadets of Bergen County Drum&Bugle Corps, who were the 1990 and 1993 World Champions.
Seating at the Mountainlair is limited and interested persons are encouraged to purchase their tickets early. Tickets for the Percussion Ensemble Concert are $12 for the general public and $10 for WVU faculty/staff and senior citizens, and $8 for WVU students. Tickets are available at the Mountainlair Box Office or by calling 304-293-SHOW.