PRESS RELEASE
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS
COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS AND COMMUNICATION
Sept. 23, 2013
CONTACT: Dr. Ricky Brooks, (501) 450-5764; rickyb@uca.edu
WIND ENSEMBLE/SYMPHONIC BAND CONCERT SET FOR OCT. 15
By Callie Sterling
College of Fine Arts and Communication Media Office
CONWAY — The University of Central Arkansas’s Department of Music will host a Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band concert on Tuesday, Oct. 15, in the Donald W. Reynolds Performance Hall.
The 7:30 p.m. concert, free and open to the public, should last approximately an hour.
“The October concert is the first in a series of campus concerts by the UCA Wind Ensemble for the school year,” Dr. Ricky Brooks, director of UCA’s Wind Ensemble, said. “The repertoire for this first concert is the most challenging of any previous year, reflecting the talent level of the students in the wind ensemble.”
The Wind Ensemble program will include “An Outdoor Overture,” by Aaron Copeland conducted by Les Sellers, graduate conducting intern; a complex, jazz-oriented composition “Awayday” by Adam Gorb; “Overture to Colas Breugnon” by Dimitri Kabalevsky; and “Concerto for Marimba and Wind Ensemble” by Eric Ewazen. “Concerto for Marimba and Wind Ensemble” features undergraduate percussionist Donald Davis of Jonesboro.
Davis is a winner of the 2013-14 UCA Student Spotlight concerto competition.
“The Student Spotlight Competition is an annual competition designed to feature some of the many talented members of the UCA Wind Ensemble,” Brooks said. “Donald Davis is the first of three student winners who will perform with the UCA Wind Ensemble this year.”
Brantley Douglas, director of the Symphonic Band, said that portion of the concert would be themed “Suites for Band” and feature three suites from the wind band literature. Selections will include “First Suite in E flat,” composed by Gustav Holst and directed by Sellers, “Medieval Suite” by Ron Nelson and the ballet suite “Pineapple Poll,” with music composed by Sir Arthur Sullivan.
“The three suites selected for this (Symphonic Band) concert represent a wide range of music from the traditional to the contemporary and provide a musical challenge for all the student musicians,” Douglas said. “You will hear music with melodies you may recognize in addition to music that involves improvisation by the musicians.”
For more information, contact Brooks at (501) 450-5764 or rickyb@uca.edu or Douglas at bdouglas@uca.edu.
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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