PRESS RELEASE
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS
COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS AND COMMUNICATION
April 9, 2014
CONTACT: Dr. Ricky Brooks, (501) 450-5764; rickyb@uca.edu
UCA WIND ENSEMBLE TO HOST BAND CENTENNIAL CONCERT
By Kathy Kelly
College of Fine Arts and Communication Media Office
CONWAY — The University of Central Arkansas Wind Ensemble will perform on Thursday, April 17, in the Donald W. Reynolds Performance Hall as part of the UCA Band Centennial Celebration.
The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public. It will be a replication of the concert presented April 13 in Dallas’ Meyerson Symphony Center, home of the Dallas Symphony.
The UCA band was founded and offered as credit in the 1914 Normal School undergraduate bulletin. Scheduled performances will have a distinctively personal UCA band allegiance.
“Each of the seven musical selections on the program has a personal connection with the UCA band through the guest artists or composers,” said Dr. Ricky Brooks, director of bands.
Tony Baker, UCA alumnus and professor of trombone at the University of North Texas, is one of the featured artists scheduled to perform. Two UCA music faculty members will also be spotlighted: Neil Rutman on piano and Christian Carichner on tuba.
Two program pieces are commissioned by the band with composers Charles L. Booker, Jr., an Arkansas composer, and David Gillingham of Michigan. Booker’s commission commemorated the 2007 UCA Centennial; Gillingham’s will honor the UCA band centennial. He will visit UCA as artist in residence.
In addition, the wind ensemble will perform a piece by former UCA drum major Brady Massey. Karl King’s “Purple Pageant March”, conducted by
Russell Langston, UCA emeritus director of bands, will close out the
concert.
Brooks said UCA alumni would recognize the trio of the march as the UCA Fight Song, scored and arranged by Homer Brown, director of bands from 1958-79.
For more information about this concert and other centennial events, contact Brooks at (501) 450-5764 or rickyb@uca.edu, or the UCA Department of Music at (501) 450-3163.
The UCA College of Fine Arts and Communication includes the Departments of Art, Communication, Mass Communication and Theatre, Music and Writing. The college’s primary mission is the preparation of the next generation of artists, educators and communicators. For more information about CFAC, visit www.uca.edu/cfac or call (501) 450-3293.
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