The Wind Ensemble at Stephen F. Austin State University will present the program “Legacies” in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 13, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus.
According to Dr. David Campo, director of bands at SFA and the Wind Ensemble, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines legacy as “something transmitted by or received from an ancestor, predecessor or from the past.”
“Spirituals are among the musical legacies we have inherited in America,” Campo said, “and to celebrate this connection, the Wind Ensemble trumpet section will perform Terry Everson’s arrangement of the spiritual ‘There’s a Great Day Coming.'”
The Wind Ensemble will also perform John Barnes Chance’s “Blue Lake Overture.”
“Chance was a native Texan whose legacy was cut short by his untimely death in 1972, but he left the band world richer because of his compositions,” Campo said. “Blue Lake Overture” was the first commission by Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in 1970, and the Western Michigan University Wind Ensemble premiered the work in early 1971.
American composer Anthony Iannaccone’s work “After a Gentle Rain” is also on the program. In the opening woodwind statements, the audience will hear the influence of Iannaccone’s teacher, Aaron Copland, Campo said.
“Iannaccone’s legacy includes a Ravel Prize, C.F. Peters Prize and an Ostwald Award for ‘Sea Drift,'” Campo added.
The Wind Ensemble will perform Robert Russell Bennett’s “Suite of Old American Dances,” which offers a nostalgic look at the dances that were popular at the turn of the century and in which Bennett reminisces about Electric Park, an amusement park touted in the early 1900s as “Kansas City’s Coney Island.” Bennett stated, “Electric Park was a place of magic to us kids because of the tricks with big electric signs, the illuminated fountains, the big band concerts, the scenic railway and the big dance hall. One could hear in the dance hall all afternoon and evening the pieces the crowd danced to.”
Closing the concert will be Samuel Barber’s “Commando March,” which was written in 1943 and was his first work for wind band and his first work subsequent to entering the U.S. Army.
“There is no extant documentation regarding a formal commission or a direct military order,” Campo said, “rather it appears Barber was inspired to compose for the military bands he must have come in contact with during his basic training.”
The concert is a joint presentation of the College of Fine Arts and School of Music. Cole Concert Hall is located in the Tom and Peggy Wright Music Building, 2210 Alumni Drive.
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.
