The WKU Symphony will perform a selection of four all-American pieces, celebrating the history of American concert music.

The performance, entitled “The American Spirit,” will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Van Meter Hall, conducted by Brian St. John, professor of music and director of orchestras at WKU.

The ensemble will be joined by featured guest John Cipolla, university distinguished professor of clarinet and saxophone, to perform Aaron Copland’s “Clarinet Concerto,” which was originally composed for clarinetist Benny Goodman.

The symphony will then perform Copland’s “Billy the Kid Ballet Suite,” which was loosely based on the life of the infamous Old West outlaw and gunslinger Billy the Kid.

Morton Gould’s “American Salute” will follow, composed during World War II based on the Civil War era tune “When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” according to the Wind Repertory Project.

The performance will close with “New England Triptych,” composed by William Schuhman, which drew on the work of William Billings, an 18th-century composer to evoke the atmosphere of the American Revolutionary period, according to the Los Angeles Philharmonic.