ISU Symphonic Band and Civic Concert Band to perform Nov. 15

The director of the Civic Concert Band is ISU Director of Jazz Studies Erin Armstrong, and the Symphonic Band is directed by ISU Director of Bands Patrick Brooks.

The Symphonic Band will perform a number of important works for band including the “Second Suite in F for Military Band” by the English composer Gustav Holst and “Variants on A Medieval Tune” by Norman Dello Joio. They will also perform Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Egmont Overture” in a transcription for band.

“In the past, bands have typically not performed music by Beethoven, mostly because Beethoven didn’t write music for concert bands as we know them today, and because the orchestral works he did write are difficult for bands to play,” Brooks said. “But that Beethoven is one of the most important and universally accessible composers in the history of music, I thought the opportunity to expose our students to his music was important.”

The Symphonic Band will also perform the beautiful “Sheltering Sky” and “Strange Humors,” both works of the contemporary American composer John Mackey.

The Civic Concert Band will perform  “Pageant” by Vincent Persichetti, and “Chorale and Alleluia” by Howard Hanson. Persichetti and Hanson were both important and influential American composers of the mid-20th century, and friends as well. The band will also perform “Belle Qui Tiens Ma Vie,” “The Irish Minstrel Boy” and the 13^th-century plainsong “Divinum Mysterium.”

Admission to the concert is $8 for adults, $6 for ISU faculty and staff, $4 for pre-college students. All ISU students are admitted at no cost with their student ID.