Contact: Paige Watson
![Mississippi State’s Wind Ensemble invites all to its Tuesday [Nov. 17] evening concert honoring America’s veterans in McComas Hall. (Photo by Megan Bean)](https://www.msstate.edu/sites/www.msstate.edu/files/inline-images/Wind_Ensemble_Concert.jpg "Mississippi State’s Wind Ensemble invites all to its Tuesday [Nov. 17] evening concert honoring America’s veterans in McComas Hall. (Photo by Megan Bean)")
STARKVILLE, Miss.—The Mississippi State University Wind Ensemble pays tribute Tuesday [Nov. 17] to those who served in America’s armed forces.
Free and open to all, the 7:30 p.m. concert in the university’s McComas Hall auditorium features Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” and “Let Freedom Ring,” a musical treatment of “My Country ’Tis of Thee” by 1st Lt. Ryan J. Nowlin, assistant director of the U.S. Marine Band, also known as “The President’s Own.”
MSU Director of Bands Elva Kaye Lance is conductor of the ensemble.
Craig Aarhus, associate music professor and associate director of MSU Bands, said, “This arrangement attempts to serve as a strong reminder that America would not be what it is were it not for the sacrifices of those who have gone before us.”
Aarhus said the program also includes:
—“Arlington (Where Giants Lay Sleeping),” an original composition by Paul Murtha, chief arranger for the U.S. Army Band, also known as “Pershing’s Own.”
—John Williams’ “Hymn to the Fallen” from director Steven Spielberg’s 1998 World War II drama “Saving Private Ryan.”
—A medley of actual WWII-era songs made popular by the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Cliff Taylor, associate music professor and associate director of bands, will provide accompaniment for “In the Mood,” Miller’s No. 1 hit.
The evening concludes with John Philip Sousa’s famous World War I march “Solid Men to the Front” and the ever-inspiring Carmen Dragon arrangement of “America the Beautiful.”
The wind ensemble is the MSU band program’s premier instrumental group. From a series of well-received 2008-14 European concerts, it has earned an international reputation for mastery of contemporary and traditional band literature.
Selected through competitive auditions, this year’s ensemble members represent Mississippi and seven other states, as well as a range of academic disciplines across campus. For more, visit www.msuband.msstate.edu/ensembles/index.php.
Additional concert information is available from Aarhus at 662-325-2713 or CAarhus@colled.msstate.edu.
Accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music, MSU’s music department offers a bachelor’s degree in four areas of music education, as well as a bachelor of arts in music. Learn more at www.music.msstate.edu, bit.ly/MSUMusicFB and twitter.com/mstatemusic.
MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.