University Wind Ensemble to perform at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts

by Kathleen McCoy  |   

The University Wind Ensemble, conducted by Mark Wolbers, presents To You, America! on Saturday, April 21 at 7:30 PM in the Sydney Laurence Theatre in the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts.  The theme of this concert is based on original band compositions of the past 75 years that pay tribute to America in some fashion.  The title composition, "To You, America!," was composed by America's first African-American symphonic composer, William Grant Still.  This work was commissioned for the 150th anniversary of West Point and was a winner of a Freedom Foundation Award in 1952.

Among other works, the concert will also feature "Huntingtower Ballad for Band" by Ottorino Respighi.  Respighi was a famous composer of great orchestral works such as the "Pines of Rome."   He was commissioned in 1932 by the Edwin Franko Goldman Band and the American Bandmasters Association to write "Huntingtower" in memory of John Philip Sousa, who had recently died.

Rounding out the program will be "Emblems" by Aaron Copland.  This work was commissioned by the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) in 1963, and is Copland's only original composition for the band medium.  Local music critics will feel vindicated when they learn that Copland embedded the tune "Amazing Grace" into the structure of this noble work.  The general audience however, will have their spirits raised by the dramatic harmonies and playful melodies written by one of America's most beloved composers.

Tickets for "To You, America!" are available from CenterTix.net or the ACPA Box Office at 263-ARTS or 1-877ARTS-TIX toll free, outside Anchorage. Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for students & seniors.

For more information, contact Mark Wolbers at 786-1508, or afmew@uaa.alaska.edu

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