The 50-member West Virginia University Wind Symphony, a select group of the finest wind and percussion performers within West Virginia University, will present a concert at the WVU Creative Arts Center, Tuesday, Oct. 7.
The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Lyell B. Clay Theatre and is a ticketed event. For tickets and information, call (304) 293-SHOW.
The Wind Symphony is conducted by John Hendricks III, who is also director of bands at WVU and assistant dean in the College of Creative Arts. He will be joined by Dearl J. Drury, assistant conductor of the Wind Symphony, who also directs the WVU Marching Band, as well as the Basketball Pep Band, the Symphonic Band and the Concert Band.
Organist William Haller will be the special guest. Dr. Haller is professor of organ and organ literature at WVU. He currently serves as director of music ministry at Edgewood Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wheeling, West Virginia. Haller has received numerous honors and, since 1982, he has been a fellow of the American Guild of Organists.
The program will include:
“Canzon Primi Toni” by Giovanni Gabrieli, an Italian composer known for his antiphonal writing for choirs of instruments. This work features two separate choirs: the organ as one and brass as the second.
“Alleluia! Laudamus Te” by Alfred Reed, which is subtitled “A Celebration Hymn for Winds, Percussion, and Organ.” The piece is basically a canticle of praise without words where the band is treated either as a single massive choir or a group of contrasting choirs.
“Psalm for Band” by Vincent Persichetti. The various sections of the concert band are treated as separate choirs where both melodic and rhythmic motives are passed around. This creates a work that exemplifies the compositional style of the composer.
“Finale” from Symphony No 3, Op. 78 by Camille Saint-Sa�ns. Known more commonly as the “Organ Symphony,” this was Saint-Sa�ns’ last major work written in a true symphonic form. The main theme from the “Finale” has been also used in numerous genres, including movies.
“Passacaille” (from the “8th Ordre”) by Fran�ois Couperin, a French Baroque composer, organist, and harpsichordist who composed several “ordres” (or suites) for harpsichord. This “Passacaille” was transcribed by William Haller is set for organ and woodwinds.
“Wild Nights!” by Frank Ticheli was inspired by Emily Dickinson’s poem “Wild Nights!” The composer comments that each section of the work contains numerous musical surprises and a “devil-may-care swagger.”
“By the Light of the Polar Star” (from “Looking Upward Suite”) by John Philip Sousa. Besides his numerous marches, Sousa also composed eleven suites. He commented that this suite’s movement was inspired while looking into the heavens one crisp evening while riding a train through South Dakota.
“Polka and Fugue” (from “Schwanda, the Bagpiper”) by Jaromir Weinberger. These two movements are taken from the 1926 opera “Schwanda, the Bagpiper” by Czech-American composer Jaromir Weinberger. The opera is still performed occasionally, but the “Polka and Fugue” is often heard in a concert version helping to bring any program to a dramatic conclusion.
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cl/10/3/14
CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4359, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu
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