The Wind Ensemble at Stephen F. Austin State University will present the program “Welcome Home” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus.
A concert presented at the conclusion of the Wind Ensemble’s annual winter tour, “Welcome Home” contains “something for everyone” and features music from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, according to Dr. David Campo, director of the ensemble this spring in the absence of Fred J. Allen, who is on sabbatical. Associate conductor is Dr. Tamey Anglley, and guest conductor is Dr. James Dreiling.
Opening the concert is the Joseph Kreines transcription of Leo Delibes’ “March and Cortege of Bacchus” from the ballet “Sylvia.” Written in 1876, “Sylvia” is based on the Arcadian play “Aminta” by the Italian playwright Torquato Tasso.
“The play celebrates the love story between Aminta and the beautiful nymph Sylvia, who does not return his attentions until a series of events brings the couple together,” explained Campo.
The program features composer Frank Ticheli’s “Wild Nights,” which is based on the Emily Dickenson poem of the same name. About his work, Ticheli says, “Numerous composers have set the words of ‘Wild Nights’ to music, but, to my knowledge, no one has used this wonderfully sensuous poem as the basis for a purely instrumental tone poem. This was my aim, and in so doing I focused most heavily on the lines, ‘Done with the compass/Done with the chart’ and ‘Rowing in Eden/Ah! The sea!’ These words suggested the sense of freedom and ecstatic joy that I tried to express in my work.”
The ensemble will perform Eric Whitacre’s “Lux Aurumque.” Translated as “golden light,” the work received its wind band premiere at the 2005 conference of the Texas Music Educator’s Association, and is dedicated to Gary Green, according to Campo.
Also on the program is Ron Nelson’s ‘Sonoran Desert Holiday,” composed in 1994 as part of a series of eight semi-programmatic overtures he refers to as his “travelogues.”
“Although Nelson intends no specific program, the work contains gestures and allusions to night, to sunrise, to Native American and Hispanic influences, to wide open southwestern expanses, and to the remarkable variety of holiday experiences available in this diverse and beautiful part of our country,” Campo said.
The concert will close with Henry Fillmore’s well-known march, “Rolling Thunder.” Fillmore composed this march in 1916 and dedicated it to Ed Hicker, presumably a trombonist, based on the nature of the march. Music historian Norman Smith said, “At the circus or rodeo, ‘Rolling Thunder’ is used to generate excitement. On the concert stage, it’s known as a ‘show-stopper.'”
“After all,” Campo said, “who wants to hear any more music – or read any more program notes – after the ‘Rolling Thunder’ march?”
Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.
