The Northwest Wind Symphony opens the new decade on Saturday, January 18, 2020 with a winter concert, “Something New.” In this evening’s program, we’ll bring you music by composers who capture the energy of the 20th century and honor military service with their compositions.
In the early 1940s, Aaron Copland composed one of the oldest pieces on our program, Fanfare for the Common Man, as a tribute to the men and women of the armed forces. Also at this time, Randall Thompson composed Alleluia for the opening of the Berkshire Music Center in Boston. The faculty originally expected a fanfare, but with war in Europe, Thompson felt a fanfare would be inappropriate and composed an introspective piece instead.
Nearly two decades later, composer John Barnes Chance served in the Army in Korea where he first heard the folksong “Arirang,” and later in 1965, he spun this simple, beautiful melody into Variations on a Korean Folksong. Two other pieces on our program, Serenade by Derek Bourgeois, and Prelude, Siciliano, and Rondo by Malcolm Arnold, were also composed in the 1960s — the first as wedding music, and the second as a journey from brilliance to reflection and back again.
We’ll fast-forward into the 1980s with David Holsinger’s Liturgical Dances. This piece captures Holsinger’s memories as a music student at Central Methodist University, celebrating the emotional and spiritual bonds of the students and “a glorious Lord who created music.” Also written in the 80s, Robert Jager’s Esprit de Corps March celebrates a different organization with equally deep bonds: the United States Marines. Jack Stamp’s Aloft! (1997) pays tribute to the 50th anniversary of another military branch, the United States Air Force.
The newest piece of music on our program for the evening is Downey Overture (2011) by Oscar Novaro. This piece is rhythm, color, joy, and energy — everything we’ve come to expect from new music.
Our guest for the evening is conductor Dr. Wayne Bailey, Professor and Director Emeritus of Music at Arizona State University, where he taught graduate and undergraduate courses in conducting and conducted instrumental ensembles 2000–2018. Dr. Bailey also served as the director of the School of Music at ASU and previously held similar positions at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Texas Tech University, and East Tennessee State University. Ensembles under his direction have performed at the College Band Directors National Association conference, the International Community Band festival in Switzerland, the All-Japan Band Directors Clinic, at nationally televised bowl games, and throughout the nation.
Don’t miss this amazing night of music. The concert begins at 7:00 p.m. at Corbet Theatre on the Centralia College campus. General admission tickets are $12 and can be purchased at the door or in advance from Book ‘n’ Brush in Chehalis. For more information, visit www.northwestwindsymphony.org.