The concert is titled Viva Music! Part of what we do is to emphasize the joy of making and listening to live music, played by real people (us). We all have so much access to music at our fingertips on-line and can have “easy” listening experiences. However, nothing replaces experiencing music making in person, and we hope that continues for a long time.
For our premiere this concert we’ll play the final two movements from Erida Svanoe’s Alice in Wonderland. Gordon Jacob’s classic wind band piece, An Original Suite, has a local tie as we’re playing the performance edition by Chris Heidenreich, one of our DM Wind Conducting graduates from the Jacobs School of Music. We’re also doing a major repertoire piece, Toccata Marziale, a brilliant work by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Steven Bryant’s beautiful Dusk is a wonderful piece of beauty and reflection. Home of the Brave was composed for the “America 250” celebrations. In that Americana spirit we open with Russell Alexander’s march,Colossus of Columbia. Viva Musica by Alfred Reed epitomizes the concert’s theme with infectious melodies and rhythms, and our look into Broadway music continues with a great Warren Barker arrangement: Bricusse and Newley on Broadway.