Wind Ensemble and Concert Band set Jensen Grand Concert Hall performance March 2

The Idaho State University Wind Ensemble and Concert Band will perform their first program of the semester at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 2, in the Joseph C. and Cheryl H. Jensen Grand Concert Hall of the L. E. and Thelma E. Stephens Performing Arts Center.

The Wind Ensemble is directed by Dr. Patrick Brooks, ISU director of bands, and the Concert Band is directed by Monte Gris, associate director of bands.

Both ensembles bring to the performance a program that is a mixture of contemporary and historic music for band. The ISU Concert Band will begin the program with a collection of three dances – foxtrot, samba, and hoe down titled “Bridgewater Breeze” by the young American composer Adam Gorb. They also will perform the dark and mysterious “Dream of Oenghus” by German composer Rolf Rudin, and an arrangement for band of Leonard Bernstein’s “Wrong Note Rag.”

The Wind Ensemble will open the second half of the program with American composer Ron Nelson’s “Resonances I,” the most contemporary work of the concert. It features ensemble members performing off-stage solos and is a work that is more about sound and texture than about a traditional work of music. “Resonances I” will be followed by a performance of “Ballo Del Granduca (The Grand Dukes Ballet)” by the late-Renaissance composer Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck. Originally composed for organ, this music is a delightful and tuneful set of variations arranged for band by Michael Waters.

This will be followed by a performance of one the most significant works for band of the 20th century, Percy Grainger’s “Lincolnshire Posy.” This set of six musical wildflowers collected from the county Lincolnshire in England and set for band by Grainger, are a perfect example of Grainger’s gift for color, variety, and inventiveness in writing for band. The Wind Ensemble will close the concert with a performance of the “March from Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes” by Carl Maria von Weber.Admission is free for ISU students, $2 for precollege students, $3 for ISU faculty and staff, and $5 general admission. Children under 6 will not be admitted. For more information on this concert or about the ISU Bands, call Brooks at 282-3147.