UMaine, Hampden Academy Symphonic Bands to Perform Nov. 17 at MCA
Contact: George Manlove at (207) 581-3756
ORONO — The University of Maine Symphonic Band will share the stage at the Maine Center for the Arts Nov. 17 with Hampden Academy musicians as UMaine Director of Bands Curvin Farnham presents the fall symphonic band concert.
Hampden Academy’s symphonic band will open the program at 7:30 p.m. at Hutchins Hall. The UMaine symphonic band will perform second on the program after a brief intermission.
The Hampden symphonic band, under the direction of Patrick Michaud, will present a program of traditional band music including, “Rise of the Firebird” by Steven Reineke, “Adagio” by David Holsinger and “Chorale and Capriccio” by Ceasar Giovannini.
After intermission, the UMaine symphonic band will perform a program of band literature selected from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. The program includes “Pacific Commemoration” by Mark Camphouse, “Trauersinfonie” by Richard Wagner and “To Tame the Perilous Skies” by David Holsinger.
The program’s musical range includes the somber funeral processional, “Trauersinfonie,” in honor of German composer Carl Von Weber, whose body was moved in 1884 — 18 years after his death — from London to Germany for a grand ceremonial burial, to “Pacific Commemoration,” composed to represent the past and future of Pacific University in Oregon. The second half of the piece, representing the university’s future, is a vibrant and optimistic fanfare, according to Farnham. A spirited march by turn-of-the-century Pennsylvania composer Frank Panella, “On the Square,” also is on the program. The piece was played by the U.S. Army Band on the field of the 1924 World Series baseball games.
Holsinger wrote “To Tame the Perilous Skies” for the 564th Tactical Command air force band at Langley Air Force Base and provides musical insight into the “dangers and excitement faced by military aviators as they ‘tame the perilous skies,'” Farnham says.
Farnham says the program offers exciting and entertaining music from both symphonic bands and also is a great opportunity for the university to share one of Maine’s finest concert halls with local school musicians and to expose the students to UMaine’s talented and well-practiced musicians.
UMaine graduate students of conducting Gina M. Provenzano of Blue Hill and Dean Paquette of Ellsworth will be assistant conductors for the university symphonic band.
Concert admission is $6. Ticket information is available at the Maine Center for the Arts box office at (207) 481-1755.