The University of Texas Wind Ensemble will present the third concert of our continuing 50th Anniversary Celebration Sunday, November 10th, at 4:00 PM CDT in Bates Recital Hall. We will continue to offer a section of seats for students to attend Wind Ensemble concerts free of charge. All requests for student group comp tickets should be sent directly to the Butler School Box Office at tickets@mail.music.utexas.edu. The earlier you make a request, the more likely it is that we'll have seats still available! I would like to request that accurate numbers be requested, please. At several recent concerts schools requested large numbers of tickets but less than half of those were actually claimed. It would be helpful to receive an accurate number, or an email informing us that a smaller number will be required so that we can accommodate as many patrons as possible.
The first half of the concert will be devoted to a rare performance of John Adams’ amazing work, Grand Pianola Music, about which the composer wrote: “When it was first performed in New York (in 1982 in a festival of contemporary music organized and conducted by the composer Jacob Druckman) the audience response included a substantial and (to me) shocking number of “boos.” True, it was a very shaky performance, and the piece came at the end of a long concert of new works principally by serialist composers from the Columbia-Princeton school. In the context of this otherwise rather sober repertoire Grand Pianola Music must doubtless have seemed like a smirking truant with a dirty face, in need of a severe spanking. To this day, it has remained a weapon of choice among detractors who wish to hold up my work as exemplary of the evils of Postmodernism or–even more drastic–the pernicious influences of American consumerism on high art. In truth I had very much enjoyed composing the piece, doing so in a kind of trance of automatic recall, where almost any and every artifact from my musical subconscious was allowed to float to the surface and encouraged to bloom. The piece could only have been conceived by someone who had grown up surrounded by the detritus of mid-twentieth century recorded music. Beethoven and Rachmaninoff soak in the same warm bath with Liberace, Wagner, the Supremes, Charles Ives, and John Philip Sousa.” Consisting of an ensemble of ten winds and percussion, three singers and two pianists, Adams now writes: “Nevertheless, I was alarmed by the severity of its reception, and for years I found myself apologizing for it (“I’ve got to take that piece down behind the barn and shoot it”). Now, though, I’m impressed by its boldness.”
Following intermission, we will present two consortium premiere performances of works by the Ukrainian-born composer, Catherine Likhuta, who will be in residence with us. Now living in Australia, Likhuta has composed a number of significant works for horn as well as wind ensemble. Sure-Fire is a concerto featuring our own Professor Patrick Hughes as the soloist. Composed as a response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Bury and Rise is s heartfelt plea for peace.
The concert concludes with David Del Tredici’s In Wartime. Originally premiered by the UT Wind Ensemble in 2003, the first work for wind band by one of America’s masters of orchestral music -- matches its emotional depth with immediate musical appeal. The opening Hymn laces fragments of Abide With Me with swirling counterpoint, while the following Battlemarch brings an ominous march-theme into a frenzied conflict with the Persian national song, Salamati, Shah! Daring, brilliantly orchestrated and absolutely unique, In Wartime is a landmark in the repertoire.
We hope that you and your students can join us for what will be a terrific concert as we continue our celebration of this storied ensemble’s golden anniversary. The concert will be webcast: https://vimeo.com/event/4634913
Cordially,
JFJ
The entire program will be:
Sunday, November 10, 4:00 p.m.
John Adams – Grand Pianola Music
intermission
Catherine Likhuta – Sure-Fire
Patrick Hughes, soloist
Catherine Likhuta - Bury and Rise
David Del Tredici – In Wartime
Additionally:
Circus Maximus Tickets
On January 25th, the Wind Ensemble will present a concert in Dell Hall at the Long Center commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the premiere of John Corigliano’s Circus Maximus, Symphony No. 3 for Large Wind Ensemble. Also on the program will be the world premiere of Professor Donald Grantham’s Fanfare for the Maestro along with Corigliano’s amazing Concerto for Saxophone(s), Triathlon, with Professor Stephen Page as soloist.
Tickets for this concert can be purchased through the Long Center only: https://my.thelongcenter.org/3811/3812
We have reserved a large number of seats at an inexpensive rate in the hopes that many students can attend. If you are interested in bringing a large group, the Long Center Box Office offers group rates; call (512) 474-5664 to inquire about groups.
Individual teachers can use this special link to purchase tickets for $20: https://my.thelongcenter.org/3811/3812?premove=Y&promo=ATXMUSICED
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