Southwest Baptist University News Release
Contact: Sharina Smith, Office of Marketing & Communications
BOLIVAR, Mo. – Southwest Baptist University’s Music Department presents the Wind Symphony in concert on Tuesday, April 24, at 7:30 p.m.
Works by Williams, Holst, Persichetti, and Grainger are featured by the 55-member ensemble. The SBU Percussion Ensemble, under the direction of Marc Baker, will also be featured. The free public performance will be held at Pike Auditorium on the SBU campus.
“The music from this concert is from the standard repertoire of the wind band,” said Dr. Brian Hopwood, conductor and director of instrumental studies. “It is interesting to note that these works were not composed by ‘band composers’ but world-class composers who wrote for a variety of genre,” adds Dr. Hopwood.
The concert will open with Clifton Williams’ “The Sinfonians,” written on commission from the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America, and first performed at their annual convention in Cincinnati, Ohio in July 1960. Gustav Holst’s original manuscript of his “First Suite in Eb;” universally considered a cornerstone of the wind band repertoire was written for 22 players and will be performed as Holst intended.
“Divertimento” is one of Vincent Persichetti’s lightest and most entertaining works. It was his first work for band and was written in a log cabin schoolhouse in Kansas in 1949 and premiered by the Goldman Band in Central Park, New York City, the composer conducting, on June 16, 1950. Closing out the concert is Percy Grainger’s “Molly on the Shore,” considered to be his first compositional hit and arranged by the composer for string quartet, string orchestra, full orchestra, and wind band.
For more information, please call Dr. Brian K. Hopwood in the Music Department at 417-328-1647 or email him at: bhopwood@sbuniv.edu.
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Southwest Baptist University is a leader among private universities in truly integrating Christ-centered academic pursuits with comprehensive professional programs at an affordable price. At SBU, the faculty and staff create a caring, academic community to prepare students to be servant leaders in a global society. For more information, visit www.SBUniv.edu.
SBU’s Office of Marketing and Communications is available to news media 24 hours a day at (417) 399-7918.
