Ohio University’s Symphonic Band and Wind Symphony play from different eras of time with a wide variety of styles on Tuesday.
Music dating back to the 19th century all the way up through this past decade will be featured at Ohio University’s Wind Symphony and Symphonic Band’s first concert of the semester Tuesday night at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium.
Under the direction of Richard Suk, the Symphonic Band is playing the famous piece Ave Maria, by Franz Schubert, along with a romantic ballad and an upbeat piece, said David Fehn, a euphonium player in the Symphonic Band and a junior studying management and strategic leadership and management information systems.
After the Symphonic Band performance, the Wind Symphony takes the stage to perform. The group is playing showy, complex pieces and dramatic songs that are fun to play and engaging to the listeners, said Andrew Trachsel, director of the Wind Symphony.
“We’ve been working hard for five weeks,” Trachsel said. “Now it’s time to finally let these pieces go, and play them in concert. It’s always kind of fun to get the first one under our belts and perform for an audience after so much time of hard work.”
The Wind Symphony, an elite group of graduates and undergraduates, is playing a variety of music from slow, lyrical songs to songs with power and emotion. It’s exciting for the band to be able to showcase the challenging music, said Mike McCarthy, a saxophone player in the Wind Symphony and a junior studying music education.
“(An audience member) would be excited to hear this music,” McCarthy said. “It’s very powerful music and I think an audience member would really appreciate the songs we have chosen to perform.”
The performance will include “New England Triptych” by William Schuman, a modern sounding piece about the Revolutionary War, and “Millennium Canons” by Kevin Puts, a flashy and complex piece used to bring fanfare to the early 21st century as the new millennium began, Trachsel said.
“We really welcome anyone to come,” Trachsel said. “If it is your very first classical concert or 500th to attend, we hope that we play with enough variety and interest that anyone can be entertained by it.”
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