The Lawrence University wind ensemble’s Saturday night program will feature a variety of contemporary works. William Shuman’s “Chester” will be first on the concert. Robert Levy, the wind ensemble director, says, “this piece is a mainstay in the wind band repertoire.”
Shuman’s tonal work, written in 1956, is also based on an American revolutionary hymn that was the “unofficial” national anthem during the Revolutionary War.
The next piece on the program, “Shadowcatcher,” is a contemporary piece written by Julliard professor Eric Ewazen in 1996.
This work is a concerto for full wind ensemble and brass quintet. It will feature Lawrence University’s faculty brass quintet.
The Lawrence brass quintet members are John Daniel and Jeff Stannard, trumpet; James DeCorsey, horn; Nick Keelan, trombone; and Marty Erickson, tuba.
Many Lawrence students became familiar with Ewazen’s music after his visit to Lawrence during spring term in 2001. He is particularly well-known as a composer of brass chamber music and solo repertoire. An Ewazen piece, a memorial for the Sept. 11 attacks, will be performed at the March 7 Symphonic Band concert in the Chapel.
Following the intermission, the concert will feature two Pulitzer Prize-winning composers.
William Bolcom’s 2001 work entitled “Song” will be the first piece on the second half, followed by Czech-born composer Karel Husa’s three-movement work entitled “Les Couleurs Fauves (Vivid Colors).”
Bolcom has been a member of the University of Michigan’s composition department since 1973, and in 1988 he was a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize.
Husa is a retired professor of music from Cornell University and was a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in 1969 for String Quartet no. 3.
Husa is a well-known 20th century composer in the wind band genre and his 1995 work joins his long list of standards. Several of Husa’s pieces have been performed by Lawrence ensembles, even in the past couple of years.
The Lawrence University wind ensemble will perform this contemporary and diverse program on Saturday, March 1, at 8:00 p.m. in the Memorial Chapel.