UMD composer Robert Gibson’s masterful work for winds The Sound of Light connects with Joseph Schwantner’s Luminosity to illuminate the varied colors and sounds possible with the modern wind ensemble. Faculty soloist Mark Hill joins UMWO to perform the wind version of Lukas Foss’s Oboe Concerto.
The many facets of the School of Music are on display in this eclectic concert. Faculty member Rita Sloan joins UMWO for a performance of Messiaen’s showpiece Oiseaux Exotiques—a dazzling mixture of songs taken from birds throughout the world. The ensemble also showcases the talents of graduate composer Henry Wixon, giving the world premiere of his Double Quintet, and graduate conducting students take the helm to perform standard wind ensemble works as well.
The UMD Symphony Orchestra performs the triumphal Sibelius Symphony No. 3 and Strauss’ tone poem Don Juan, based on Don Juans Ende, a play derived from an unfinished 1844 retelling of the tale by poet Nikolaus Lenau.
Join UMWO in challenging conventional wind ensemble sound with inventive instrumentation, subject matter and use of multimedia. Garden images accompany Dove’s Figures in the Garden, while Lang’s Cheating, Lying and Stealing includes video clips from the eponymous Guitar Hero game available on Garage Band. Works by the eclectic and avant-garde musician and composer Frank Zappa complete the program.
Praised by audiences for its varied repertoire, this annual event has a loyal following.
Spirit and spectacle combine in an extravaganza that features the finest wind repertoire plus the ever-popular Mighty Sound of Maryland Marching Band.
In this annual event, director Chris Vadala brings together three ensembles in innovative interpretations of classic and contemporary jazz works
John Corigliano’s Circus Maximus for wind orchestra is, like the ancient Roman arena, built both to embody and to comment on massive and glamorous barbarity. A large and theatrical piece, the audience is encircled by musicians, literally becoming the center attraction of the grand arena. This massive work is contrasted with two chamber pieces, Bernard’s elegant Divertissment for woodwinds and Ewazen’s Symphony in Brass.
In its second collaboration with new partner The Phillips Collection, the UMD School of Music Symphony Orchestra performs Derek Bermel’s Migration Series, joined onstage by UMD’s Jazz Band, Chamber Singers and Wind Orchestra. The performance is inspired by paintings from The Phillips Collection’s Migration Series by Jacob Lawrence, depicting the mass movement of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North between the World Wars.
A renowned pianist once said, “Bach’s Goldberg Variations caused me misery but I still can’t get enough.” This concert of themes and variations will satisfy with works by Revueltas and Brouwer, whose Canción de gesta is an homage to anti-Batista Cuban revolutionaries.
PROGRAM:
The ancient Roman tale of the violation of the virtuous Lucretia by the vicious Tarquinius receives a haunting treatment as two modern observers, one male and one female, attempt to interpret the events even as they unfold. The pair seeks to find spiritual meaning and redemption in a hellish act of violence.
Britten composed The Rape of Lucretia in 1946, in a world still reeling from the horrors of World War II. The opera continues to resonate today as we face a rising surge of violence throughout the world.
