Contact: Maridith Geuder
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Selections ranging from a traditional spiritual to a rousing John Philip Sousa march will be featured Oct. 30 during a free fall concert by Mississippi State's Wind Ensemble.
Considered the university's premier assemblage of performing students, the Elva Kaye Lance-led group's repertoire includes a range of traditional and contemporary works. Lance is MSU's director of bands.
The 7:30 p.m. performance in the McComas Hall theater will include music department faculty member Elaine Peterson on bassoon. Departmental colleague Craig Aarhus will be guest conductor for "Concert Piece for Bassoon and Wind Band" by Burrill Phillips.
Other selections include "Four Scottish Dances" by Malcolm Arnold, "Festival Variations" by Claude T. Smith, Sousa's "The Rifle Regiment March," "Four Excerpts from Gayaneh" by Aram Khachaturian, "Perpetual Motion" by Niccolo Paganini, and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot."
Made up of both music and non-music majors, the Wind Ensemble includes advanced instrumentalists selected on the basis of competitive auditions. In addition to fall and spring campus concerts, the group makes an annual regional tour.
The Mississippi State group has been the featured university unit at conventions of the Mississippi Bandmasters Association. Next year, it fills that role at the Mississippi All-State Band Festival.
For more information, telephone the music department at 662-325-3070.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.