The WKU Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band will perform their first concert of the semester on Friday, Feb. 27, at 7:30 p.m. in Van Meter Hall.
Gary Schallert, Director of Bands and WKU professor of music, said the performance will last roughly an hour. He said the concert costs $5 for general admission.
Schallert will be conducting the Wind Ensemble at the concert. Matthew McCurry, director of Athletic Bands and WKU pedagogical assistant professor, will be conducting the Symphonic Band, according to WKU Bands’ Facebook post.
Schallert said the Symphonic Band will play pieces including Aaron Perrine’s “Glimpse of the Eternal,’ Andrew Boyson Jr.’s “Grant Them Eternal Rest,” and selections from Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana,” based on the poems from the medieval collection, “Carmina Burana.” He said the Wind Ensemble will play pieces including Boyson Jr.’s “Kirkpatrick Fanfare,” Percy Grainger’s “Irish Tune from County Derry,” and John Williams’ “Adventure on Earth,” from the movie “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.”
Six solo percussionists will be featured in a piece called “Black Rainbow,” Schallert said. He said the percussionists will even be featured in the front row during the performance, which is an uncommon occurrence since percussionists typically stand behind all the other instrumentalists.
“They’re usually in the back and yet they’re going to be in the front so that they can be really featured,” Schallert said. “It’s a very cool piece.”
Schallert said the Wind Ensemble will also perform a piece called “Take Hold of Heaven,” composed by Matthew Herman, WKU associate professor of music theory and composition.
Schallert said this will be the second time the piece will be performed for an audience, but it’ll be performed for the first time at WKU.
Schallert said the students are putting in their best effort for Herman’s piece. He said some of the students even have Herman as a professor, so everyone is excited to perform something he composed.
“It’s more meaningful to the students because they’re playing a piece of music that one of their professors wrote,” Schallert said. “And Dr. Herman is very popular with the students.”
Even if students attending don’t know all the titles being performed, Schallert said they’ll probably begin to recognize iconic melodies as soon as the performance begins.
“I think one thing that’s cool about this concert is they’ll hear music they recognize,” Schallert said.
