NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Three concert bands at Stephen F. Austin State University will present a variety of works when the students perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 16, in Turner Auditorium, Griffith Fine Arts Building, on the SFA campus.
The Wind Ensemble, directed by Dr. Tamey Anglley, director of bands at SFA; the Wind Symphony, directed by Dr. Dan Haddad, associate director of bands; and the Symphonic Band, directed by Dr. Chris Kaatz, assistant director of bands, will each perform works reflecting different themes.
The Symphonic Band will perform “Galop” from the operetta “Moscow, Cheryomushki” by Dmitri Shostakovich. The work is an example of a piece of “joyful, light-hearted music” the composer was able to create in spite of his oppression under strict Soviet rule. This portion of the concert reflects “adversity through struggle,” according to Kaatz.
The Wind Symphony will present “Children’s March” by Percy Grainger, which, like many of Grainger’s works, demonstrates both the fierceness and the tenderness of the composer’s personality. Grainger dedicated it to “my playmate beyond the hills,” believed to be Karen Holton, a Scandinavian beauty with whom the composer corresponded for eight years but did not marry. This portion of the concert evokes elements of “curiosity, energy and innocence,” according to Haddad.
The Wind Ensemble will perform David Maslanka’s “Morning Star,” which is a celebratory piece set in a rondo form with 32 variations. The composer states that the piece “is about beginnings: the dawning of a new day and the beginning of an adult life for the young people who are playing it now.”
Griffith Fine Arts Building is located at 2222 Alumni Drive.
Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. To purchase tickets, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit the box office website. For additional information, contact the SFA School of Music at (936) 468-4602.
Axe ’Em, Jacks!