欧美视频's Wind Symphony to present 'Winds and Friends' on March 8

BOLIVAR, Mo. 鈥� The 欧美视频 Department of Music will present 鈥淲inds and Friends,鈥� featuring the 欧美视频 Wind Symphony, at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, March 8, in Pike Auditorium on the Bolivar campus.

Conducted by Dr. Brian K. Hopwood, professor of music and director of instrumental studies, the Wind Symphony will perform works by Boysen, Grainger, Nelson, Milburn and Smith. Guest ensemble will be the Springfield Glendale High School Wind Symphony 鈥� Troy Cronkite, conductor.

The Wind Symphony will open with two related compositions that are distinctively Irish. 鈥淜irkpatrick Fanfare,鈥� by Andrew Boysen, is based on the first seven notes of the Irish folk song, 鈥淥 Danny Boy,鈥� but in a setting that rhythmically 鈥渉ides鈥� this connection. It reveals the folk song鈥檚 final melodic statement during the dramatic conclusion.

The oft-performed 鈥淚rish Tune from County Derry鈥� is one of four settings (mixed voices, piano, strings and band) of 鈥淥 Danny Boy,鈥� by composer Percy Grainger. The work features Grainger鈥檚 love of counterpoint and technique of burying the melody occasionally within the texture. This technique is reminiscent of the late Romantic style of Edvard Grieg, to whom this work is 鈥渓ovingly and reverently dedicated.鈥�

The program continues with a suite of dances written in Renaissance style, 鈥淐ourtly Airs and Dances,鈥� by American composer Ron Nelson. Based on four well-known church hymns, Dwayne Milburn composed 鈥淎merican Hymnsong Suite.鈥� Written for the Army Ground Forces Band, Fort McPherson, Ga., which Milburn led and conducted, the work was premiered by Milburn鈥檚 band on Sept. 11, 2003, in a joint concert with Columbus State University (Georgia) commemorating the two-year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The four movements, titled 鈥淧relude on Wondrous Love,鈥� 鈥淏allad on Balm in Gilead,鈥� 鈥淪cherzo on Nettleton,鈥� and 鈥淢arch on Wilson鈥� are all American in origin.

鈥淒eclaration Overture,鈥� by Missouri composer, Claude T. Smith, will be performed jointly by both bands and will conclude the concert.

The performance is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Hopwood, at (417) 328-1647 or bhopwood@欧美视频niv.edu.

*Published: 2-26-18