Southeastern Wind Symphony to feature music of John Mackey
Thursday, October 13, 2016 
by: Rene Abadie
SOUTHEASTERN CONCERT ‘STRANGE HUMORS’ SCHEDULED --The music of renowned music composer John Mackey will be featured at “Strange Humors,” the fall performance of Southeastern Louisiana University’s Wind Symphony scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 20, at 7:30 p.m., in the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts in Hammond.
HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University’s Wind Symphony will present its fall
Fanfare concert on Thursday, Oct. 20, featuring the music of American composer John
Mackey.
The concert, titled “Strange Humors” and conducted by Director of Bands Glen
J. Hemberger, will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the Columbia Theatre for the Performing
Arts, 220 East Thomas Street in downtown Hammond. General admission tickets can be
purchased at the door and are $10 for adults and $5 for faculty and seniors; students
of all ages with ID and children are free. For additional information on tickets,
call the Columbia Box Office at 985-543-4371.
The concert is a featured part of Southeastern’s Fanfare, a fall festival of
the arts, humanities and social sciences. The Wind Symphony is a large, select music
ensemble comprised of the finest woodwind, brass and percussion musicians at the university.
Mackey, who will be in residence for four days at Southeastern, has established
himself as one of the most prolific and often performed composers of music for wind
band, Hemberger said. A graduate of the Juilliard School with a master of music degree,
Mackey has seen his works performed at the Sydney Opera House, the Brooklyn Academy
of Music, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and throughout Italy, Japan, China, Brazil,
and other nations.
“I would say he could easily be called the most popular wind band composer writing
today,” he added. “His music is fresh, distinctive, diverse, creative, and entertaining.”
Among Mackey’s works to be performed are Sheltering Sky; Strange Humors, to be
conducted by marching band director Derek Stoughton and featuring faculty member Travis
Henthorn on djembe; Ringmaster’s March; and Sasparilla, a flashback to the old West
featuring graduate student Daniel Seimetz on the accordion.
Also featured on the program will be Vincent Persichetti’s Symphony No. 6 for
Band, Richard Wagner’s Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral from “Lohengrin,” conducted
by graduate student Sharie Mahler of Destrehan; and Percy Grainger’s Mock Morris,
Irish Tune from County Derry, and Shepherd’s Hey, a three-piece suite conducted by
graduate student Matthew Soukup of Mandeville.
