Idaho State University Wind Ensemble Concert Feb. 22 includes premiere performance of composition by ISU’s Randy Earles

The Idaho State University Wind Ensemble will perform its first concert of the semester Friday, Feb. 22, at 7:30 p.m. in the Jensen Grand Concert Hall in the Stephens Performing Arts Center. 

The Wind Ensemble is directed by Patrick Brooks, ISU director of bands.

This concert will feature the world premiere performance of "Five Metric Dances" by Randy Earles, composer and associate dean in the ISU College of Arts and Letters. Composed in 2012, this work presents a series of dance movements, each based on a different musical meter. Earles has been at ISU since 1992, and is past chair of the music department.

"I was inspired to write this work when listening to a concert at the ISU Baroque Festival about three years ago," Earles said. "I did not want to write actual Baroque dances, so I focused on the meters and tempi that could be reinterpreted for dances in modern times."

The suite of dances follows a progression of meters that begins with a prelude that is played in one beat per measure. The second dance is in duple meter (two beats per measure), followed by three more dances in triple, quadruple, and quintuple meters respectively.

Featured soloist with the Wind Ensemble will be pianist Heloise Clifford. She will be soloist on "Introduction and Capriccio for Piano and 24 Winds" by American composer John Barnes Chance. Generally light and energetic in character, this work features a series of lively interplays between the piano and winds.

The Wind Ensemble will also perform Chance's heartfelt "Elegy, Spring Festival" by Chinese American composer Chen Yi, and "SLAVA!" by Leonard Bernstein.

Admission for the concert is free for ISU students with valid Bengal cards, $4 for pre-college students, $6 for ISU faculty and staff, and $8 for the general public. Children under 6 will not be admitted.

For more information on this concert or about the ISU Bands, call Idaho State University Director of Bands Dr. Patrick Brooks at 282-3147.

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