Purdue Winter Wind Works concerts Feb. 21-22 at Long Center
February 12, 2015
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University bands will perform its Winter Wind Works concerts on Saturday (Feb. 21) and Sunday (Feb. 22) at the Long Center in Lafayette.
The Saturday event will feature the Purdue Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band in a full- instrumentation concert featuring band classics and contemporary compositions. The concert is at 8 p.m., and is free and open to the public.
The Symphonic Band will welcome guest conductor Dr. Roby George, associate professor of Music and director of bands at Indiana State University, on Roger Nixon’s “Reflections” and John Philip Sousa’s “El Capitan.” “Reflections,” published in 1970, reflects a chorale prelude. “El Capitan” is one of Sousa’s 15 operettas, this one specifically concerning a Peruvian viceroy who disguises himself as a bandit. In traditional Sousa style, the piece concludes with a march that was performed for Spanish-American war veterans in 1899.
The Wind Ensemble will conclude Saturday’s program with a collection of works by American contemporary composers including Steven Bryant, Leonard Bernstein, and Alfred Reed. Bernstein’s music includes “Overture to Candide,” while Perrine’s “Pale Blue on Deep” reflects the power and serenity inspired by Lake Superior. Bryant’s “Radiant Joy” culminates the composer’s personal struggle with joyous pulsing rhythms and harmonies reflecting funk, jazz and fusion of the 70s and 80s.
For Saturday’s concert, that begins at 2:30 p.m., the Concert, Collegiate and Varsity bands will perform a tribute to pioneering pilot Amelia Earhart. The event also will feature fold songs from around the world and music from the Golden Age of the Xylophone. It is free and open to the public.
The Varsity Band will open the concert under the direction of Matthew C. Conaway and graduate assistant John Williams with “Earhart: Sounds of Courage,” published in 2012 by composer Robert W. Smith. It is a portrayal of Earhart’s famed flight and the nations along the way including Central America and Asia.
The Collegiate Band will perform a combination of works inspired by the American South and Midwest. “Rush,” written by Ayatey Shabazz for the 2014 Mississippi State Band Clinic, will be premiered under Purdue assistant director Ishbah Cox’s leadership.
The Long Center is at 111 N. 6th St., Lafayette.
Contact: Susan Xioufaridou, director of Marketing and Public Relations, Purdue University Bands & Orchestras, 765-496-6785, susanx@purdue.edu
