Wind Symphony concert scheduled April 19
Contact: Tonya Lowentritt
4/8/11
HAMMOND -- Southeastern Louisiana University’s Wind Symphony will present “Kingfishers Catch Fire,” at the downtown Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts at 7:30 p.m. April 19.
Sponsored by the Department of Fine and Performing Arts, the symphony will be directed by Southeastern Director of Bands Glen Hemberger. The orchestra is comprised of the finest wind and percussion musicians attending the university.
The concert will begin with Dmitri Shostakovich’s “Festive Overture,” followed by the winners of the Kappa Kappa Psi Concerto Competition, now in its third year. Saxophonist and junior music education major Vitalie Gumeniuc will perform “Pequena Czarda” by Spanish composer Pedro Iturralde, followed by Leroy Anderson’s famed “Bugler’s Holiday,” performed by trumpet majors Thomas Huckaby, David Kraus and David Will. Also featured will be Louisiana native Frank Ticheli’s latest work, “Rest” and the powerful “Kingfishers Catch Fire” by American John Mackey.
“Concerto for Piano and Wind Symphony” by Richard Prior will round out the first half of the program. Local residents Fay and Phelan Bright commissioned the concerto in 2001 in celebration of the lives of Fay’s parents Marietta Reimers Schneider and Hans Schneider. It premiered in May 2001 by the Wind Symphony with department head David Evenson on the piano.
“This work is now celebrating its 10th anniversary, once again with the composer in attendance,” said Hemberger. “In recognition of Dr. Evenson’s retirement from Southeastern this June, the evening’s concerto performance will also be dedicated to him and will be performed by Southeastern faculty member and Grammy-nominated pianist Kenneth Boulton.”
The second half of the program begins with “Song for Lyndsay” by Andrew Boyson, Jr. and concludes with “Symphonic Dances” from “West Side Story” by Leonard Bernstein.
“Drawn directly from the composer’s original scores, the wind band setting by Paul Lavender captures all of the charm, intensity and passion of the original version for full orchestra,” Hemberger explained. “Included are such classics as ‘Somewhere,’ ‘Mambo,’ the ‘Meeting Scene,’ and ‘Cool,’ among others. This is a powerful work not to be missed.”
Reimer Priester, director of development for the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, will serve as Master of Ceremonies for the evening, Hemberger said.
Tickets are available through the Columbia Theatre box office, 220 East Thomas Street, which is open 11 a.m. – 4 p.m., Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and one hour before the performance. General admission tickets are $10, adults; $5, senior citizens, Southeastern alumni, faculty and staff. All students are admitted free with student identification. For more information on tickets, contact the Columbia Theatre box office at 985-543-4371.
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