Baylor's Symphonic Band Presents Its Next Concert

Due to the current pandemic situation, the Baylor University Symphonic Band’s third concert of the 2020-2021 season will be presented without an in-person audience. However, viewers at home can enjoy the performance by going to the School of Music website for a streaming opportunity.
The concert will be streamed on Monday, March 22, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Conducting this 67-member ensemble of woodwinds, brass, and percussion is Baylor’s Associate Director of Bands, Isaiah Odajima.
Opening the program will be Orient et Occident (“East and West”), Op. 25, by the great French master Camille Saint-Saëns. Dating from 1869 and subtitled “grand march,” Orient et Occident was the first of three pieces that Saint-Saëns wrote for wind band. This work will be conducted by David Montgomery, Associate Professor of Music Education.
Next on the concert, graduate conductor Ceon Rumphs will lead the Symphonic Band in Japanese composer Hiroaki Kataoka’s Variations on a Theme of Paganini from 2013. The work is a theme and variations on Niccolò Paganini’s famous Caprice No. 24 in A minor.
English composer Judith Bingham wrote Bright Spirit in 2001 on a commission from Timothy Reynish, former wind-band conductor at the Royal Northern College of Music, and his wife, Hilary, in memory of their son, William, who lost his life in a tragic mountain climbing accident. Dr. Reynish served as conductor of the Baylor Wind Ensemble in the spring of 2002.
Assistant Director of Bands Steve Dailey will conduct American composer Rob Smith’s Dance Mix from 2000. The instrumentation of this piece is similar to that of a jazz ensemble, and it contains many traits of jazz and pop music.
The program will close with Savannah River Holiday by American composer Ron Nelson. Originally conceived as an orchestral overture, this work received its premiere over NBC Radio on March 16, 1953. The concert-band version was written four years later.
This concert by the Baylor University Symphonic Band was pre-recorded in Jones Concert Hall. To join the virtual audience, simply visit the School of Music website by clicking here.