Contact: Maridith Geuder
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Music by composers ranging from John Philip Sousa to Richard Wagner will be featured in an April 17 concert by Mississippi State's Wind Ensemble.
Under the overall leadership of Elva Kaye Lance, the free 7:30 p.m. performance in the McComas Hall theater also will feature "Russian Christmas Music" by contemporary composer Alfred Reed. Lance is director of university bands.
Considered a classic composition for wind ensemble, "Russian Christmas" was commissioned in 1944 for a Colorado concert intended to promote Soviet-American relations. The piece draws on the musical traditions of Eastern Orthodox liturgies, including carols and chants. Craig Aarhus, assistant director of bands, will conduct.
Tom Henry, band director at Philadelphia High School, will be guest conductor for another work by Reed, a prolific composer who died in 2005. "Ode for Trumpet" also will feature son Tommy Henry, an MSU doctoral student in economics and band graduate assistant, as guest soloist.
Trombonist Clifton Taylor, associate director of bands, will be guest soloist for Adam Gorb's "Downtown Diversions," a contemporary piece with jazz and Latin influences.
Rounding out the program will be Sousa's "Nobles of the Mystic Shrine"; Wagner's "Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral"; "American Overture for Band" by Joseph Wilcox Jenkins; and "A Copland Portrait" by Clare Grundman.
The Wind Ensemble is MSU's premier instrumental ensemble. Involving both music and non-music majors selected by audition, its repertoire includes the best of traditional and contemporary works.
For more information, telephone the music department at 662-325-3070.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.