Newsroom

CORVALLIS - The Oregon State University Symphonic Wind Ensemble, conducted by David M. Becker, will present its spring concert on Thursday, May 29. The program begins at 7:30 p.m. at LaSells Stewart Center, 26th Street and Western Boulevard on the OSU campus.

Becker, the OSU Department of Music's Conductor-in-Residence this year, will lead the 45-member ensemble in a program entitled "Singing the World Into Existence."

This evening of wind music - with references to singing - also will include actual singing when the band is joined by the OSU Meistersingers, conducted by Steven Zielke, OSU director of choral studies.

The evening's theme comes from a featured composition, Dana Wilson's "Shakata," a piece based on a legend of Australian aboriginals in which their ancestors had to "sing the world" to create it. The work relies heavily on jazz and funk rhythms and some exuberant vocalization from the musicians.

Some of OSU's top student soloists will be showcased at the concert, including Brett Randolph, a graduate student in music education, who will perform the "Trumpet Concerto" by Alexander Arutunian; Adam Parnell, a freshman, performing in Vincenzo Bellini's "Concerto for Oboe"; and Ben Ward, baritone, a senior vocal performance major and featured soloist with the OSU Meistersingers as they join the wind ensemble in David Stanhope's "Bold Benjamin."

Other works include Giacomo Puccini's "La Tregenda," a witches' dance from the opera "Le Villi"; "Agincourt Hymn" for men's chorus and band by Daniel Bukvich; and movements two and three from Alfred Reed's inspirational "Three Revelations from the Lotus Sutra."

Tickets are available at the door for $7. Students are admitted free of charge.