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Original works for wind band tied into U.S. music history By: Staff Apr 18, 2008 Composer to deliver lecture on music’s role in slave trade; ensemble will play Alaska premiere of his and other works
ANCHORAGE, AK – A unique musical double-event will take place in Anchorage this month, both linked to the African-American tradition in American music – a free lecture at UAA on Wednesday evening, April 16, and a wind-band concert featuring an Alaska premiere in the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, Friday evening, April 18.
Composer Gary Powell Nash of Flint, Mich., an associate professor of music at Fisk University, will speak on the topic “Music’s Role in the Mid-Atlantic Slave Trade and its Transformation to America’s Music,” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 16, in Room 124 of the UAA Fine Arts Building.
Nash’s own compositions have been performed throughout America and abroad. He has won grants, commissions and awards from the Mississippi Arts Commission, American Composers Forum, Mississippi Humanities Council and Fulbright at the University of the Philippines.
Two days later, the University Wind Ensemble will perform an evening of work songs, dances, spirituals, marches and other works by some of America’s most inventive composers at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 18, in ACPA’s Sydney Laurence Theatre.
The Ensemble will play “Necrology,” Gary Powell Nash’s composition, in its Alaska premiere. It also will play original music for wind band by Adolphus Hailstork, William Grant Still, Florence Price, Julian Work and Alton Adams. Through these trailblazing composers, the audience will learn about a unique segment of America’s musical history.
Friday’s concert also will feature a presentation on the music of Alton Augustus Adams, who was a contemporary and friend of John Philip Sousa and the U.S. Navy’s first black bandmaster. The concert marks the northernmost performance of Adams’s music.
Tickets for Friday’s concert at ACPA are $18 general admission, $15 for seniors, students and military, available from CenterTix.net.
For more information, please contact Prof. Mark Wolbers at UAA, (907) 786.1508 or afmew@uaa.alaska.edu.
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