Wind Symphony presents 'No Strings Attached' at Columbia May 1
Contact: Christina Chapple
4/28/08
HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana University Wind Symphony will present its spring concert, “No Strings Attached,” at the university’s Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts in downtown Hammond on Thursday, May 1.
The 7:30 p.m. concert focuses on works originally composed for orchestra, and presented in transcribed setting for wind symphony, said Glen Hemberger, director of bands in the Southeastern Department of Music and Dramatic Arts.
Hemberger said the concert will open with Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man,” a work for brass and percussion that was commissioned by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 1943. “It’s majestic, sweeping signature fanfare is widely recognized as one of the best-known in the repertoire,” he said.
Next on the program will be Antonin Dvorak’s four-movement “Symphony No. 9, Op. 95,” subtitled “From the New World.” Premiered in 1893, it has become one of the best-loved works from Dvorak’s time in America, where he served as a conductor at the National Conservatory of Music.
Hemberger said the second half of the program will include “Festive Overture, Op. 96” by Dmitri Shostakovich and Moussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.”
Originally composed for piano, Moussorgsky’s sweeping masterpiece was created in response to a specific art exhibit dedicated to his close friend, Viktor Hartmann.
“The music takes the listener on a walk through the gallery, stopping to reflect on the paintings on display,” Hemberger said. “’Pictures at an Exhibition’ has gained tremendous popularity since its arrangement for orchestra by Maurice Ravel, and later for wind symphony by longtime University of Illinois conductor Mark Hindsley. The suite explores the fantastic and the bizarre depicted in the exhibit, and concludes with the immensely powerful ‘Great Gate of Kiev.’”
Admission is $6 for adults, and $4 for senior citizens and Southeastern faculty and staff. All students with ID, regardless of age, are admitted free of charge. Doors to the Columbia Theatre, 220 East Thomas Street, will open at 6:45 p.m.
For additional information, contact the Southeastern Bands at 985-549-2599.
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