Axe ’Em, Jacks!
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The Wind Symphony and the Symphonic Band at Stephen F. Austin State University will present a program of music with themes of celebration and praise when the student ensembles perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 30, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus.
Directed by Dr. Tamey Anglley, associate director of bands at SFA, the Wind Symphony will perform “Give Us This Day,” which is a short symphony for wind ensemble by American composer David Maslanka.
“Though the title is from the Lord’s Prayer, it features the choral melody ‘Vater Unser im Himmelreich’ (Our Feather in Heaven) No. 110 from J.S. Bach,” Anglley said.
The Symphonic Band, directed by Christopher Kaatz, assistant director of bands, will perform works by different generations of American composers, including the march “Americans We” by Henry Fillmore; Chorale and Alleluia by Howard Hanson; and “Masque” by Francis McBeth.
“‘Americans We’ and ‘Masque’ are both about celebrations, while Chorale and Alleluia and ‘Give Us This Day’ (which the Wind Symphony will perform) both have connections to religious praise,” Kaatz explains.
“Each composer on the concert represents a different generation of American composers,” he adds, “Fillmore being the earliest and Maslanka the most recent. The concept of the concert is that it is sort of a journey of American composition from the early 1900s to the early 2000s, with each piece written more recently than the one that precedes it.”
Concert 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.