Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble in Joint Concert

Two of Baylor University’s major instrumental groups, the Symphonic Band and the Wind Ensemble, will join forces for a concert on Tuesday, March 1, beginning at 7:30 p.m. in Jones Concert Hall, located within the Glennis McCrary Music Building. The Symphonic Band is conducted by Associate Director of Bands Isaiah Odajima, and the Wind Ensemble is conducted by Director of Bands J. Eric Wilson.
To open the program, the Symphonic Band will perform a familiar excerpt by Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, his “Procession of the Nobles” from the 1890 opera, Mlada. This will be led by Ceon Rumphs, a graduate student from Garland, Texas.
Then will come Popcopy by Baylor University’s Professor of Composition, Scott McAllister. This whimsical work, written in 2009, has its roots firmly in popular culture. The first movement (“More Cowbell!”) is based on a “Saturday Night Live” skit featuring Will Ferrell, the second movement (“One Time at Band Camp”) on a catchphrase from the movie American Pie, and the third movement (“Serenity Now”) on a plot line from an episode of “Seinfeld.”
Next, the Wind Ensemble will play the final movement of Suite in B-flat major, Op. 4, by German composer Richard Strauss. It dates from 1884, when Strauss was only twenty years old.
American composer John Mackey wrote Some treasures are heavy with human tears last year as a meditation on grief, commemorating the 2019 mass killings at a bar in Dayton, Ohio.
Also to be heard is the Wind Ensemble’s performance of the final two movements from the Petite Symphonie by French composer Charles Gounod. It dates from 1885, when Gounod was sixty-seven years old. Benjamin Gerrard, a graduate student from Orlando, Florida, will conduct.
The program will close with Dr. Odajima conducting Seeker’s Scherzo from 2016 by Chinese-American composer Zhou Tian. This brisk, three-minute piece was originally cast as the third movement of Dr. Zhou’s Concerto for Orchestra from 2016.
This concert is free of charge and open to the public. It is also available for livestreaming at baylor.edu/music/live.