Axe ’Em, Jacks!
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The Wind Symphony and the Symphonic Band at Stephen F. Austin State University will present the program “Monuments” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 28, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus.
The SFA Symphonic Band, conducted by Dr. Tamey Anglley, assistant director of bands at SFA, will open the first half of the concert with Jack Stamp’s “Cenotaph,” which will be conducted by graduate student Brandon Beavers of Livingston.
A cenotaph is a ‘statue or monument to a person not buried there,’ according to Anglley. The Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument are familiar examples of cenotaphs. Stamp’s “Cenotaph” is a fanfare that connotes such a structure.
Symphonic Band will also perform “Giles Farnaby Suite,” transcribed by Gordon Jacob. The suite includes 11 movements for band that were transcribed from Farnaby’s pieces in “The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book,” which Anglley describes as “a treasure trove of late Renaissance and very early Baroque keyboard music.”
“A virginal is a small type of harpsichord with the plucked strings running parallel to the keyboard,” she explained. “The tunes reflect several classes of song and dance varying in rhythm, tempo and style.”
The Wind Symphony, conducted by Dr. David Campo, associate director of bands, will perform works by Clifton Williams, John Mackey and Michael Daugherty.
Epsilon Upsilon Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia at Evansville College commissioned Williams’ “Dedicatory Overture” for use in services dedicating their new music building erected in 1963.
The Wind Symphony will also perform Mackey’s “This Cruel Moon” in which the composer celebrates the literary monument of “The Odyssey,” written by Homer in the 8th century B.C.
“The work focuses on the adventures of Odysseus as he attempts to return home following the fall of Troy,” Campo said. “Odysseus falls prey to the seductions of the sea nymph Kalypso, and it is this episode that Mackey explores in ‘This Cruel Moon.’ The piece is an adaptation of the middle movement of Mackey’s ‘Wine Dark Sea: Symphony for Band.’”
The concert closes with Daugherty’s homage to one of the world’s greatest natural monuments: Niagara Falls.
In his “Niagara Falls,” Daugherty seeks to impart a musical souvenir, or, in his words, “a 10-minute musical ride over the Niagara River with an occasional stop at a haunted house or wax museum along the way.”
The concert is a joint presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and School of Music.
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.