Southwest Baptist University News Release
Contact: Charlotte Marsch, Director of Marketing and Communications
417-328-1803/cmarsch@sbuniv.edu
SBU presents Wind Symphony March 14
BOLIVAR, Mo. – The Southwest Baptist University Department of Music’s Wind Symphony, with guest ensemble Mountain Grove High School Band, presents “Winds and Friends” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 14, in Pike Auditorium on the SBU campus.
Works by Arnold, Persichetti, Allen, de Meij, Suppé and Sousa are featured.
The Mountain Grove High School Band, under the direction of Billie Miller and Michelle Bryant, will perform a variety of music, including “Everest, the Forbidden Journey” by Rob Romeyn and “Ragged Rozey” by Karl King. Their performance also includes “The Great Locomotive Chase” by Robert W. Smith.
The SBU Wind Symphony performance, conducted by Brian K. Hopwood, opens with “Little Suite for Brass” by Malcolm Arnold, originally written for brass bands, for which England is well-known.
“The late John Paynter, Director of Bands at Northwestern University, completed this arrangement for wind band, expanding the piece to include woodwinds and additional percussion, but faithfully retaining the light, sparkling character of the original composition,” Hopwood said.
Also on the program is Vincent Persichetti’s third work for wind band, “Pageant, Op. 59,” which was commissioned by Edwin Franko Goldman for the American Bandmasters Association in 1953. Symphony No. 1, “Lord of the Rings” was de Meij’s first work for band. It was the 1989 winner of the prestigious Sudler International Wind Band Composition Competition, having been selected from 143 entries representing 27 countries.
“It is a large, majestic work in five movements,” Hopwood said. “Broadly programmatic, it is based on the literary trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) of the same title. Only the first movement, ‘Gandalf’ [the Wizard], will be performed to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the premiere performance on March 15, 1988.”
Additional works include Fred Allen arrangements of a hymn, “Chorale Prelude: Abide With Me,” and a spiritual, “When the Stars Began to Fall” (My Lord What a Mourning), and the park-band favorite “Light Cavalry” by Franz von Suppé.
John Philip Sousa’s “U.S. Field Artillery March” will be performed jointly by both bands and will conclude the concert that is free and open to the public.
For more information, please contact the SBU Department of Music office at (417) 328-1644.
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