Concert kick-off on Feb. 25
by Samantha Melia
On Sunday, Feb. 25, the Wind Ensemble and Concert Band will
perform in the Concert Hall of the Fine Arts Center. The theme for the joint
performance will be “inspired by literature,” and the set will include musical
compositions that owe their creation to a literary classic.
The Concert Band will play music based on The Divine Comedy by Dante, and the musical selection provided for the Wind Ensemble references three very different thematic literature-based pieces.
These include Vanity
Fair by composer Percy Fletcher, inspired by a short story of
the same name, and Illyrian Dances by
composer Guy Woolfenden, a song that references the utopic peninsula described
by William Shakespeare.
Additionally, the Wind Ensemble will perform Suite from Leonard Bernstein’s operetta Candide, named for Enlightenment philosopher
Voltaire’s satirical book of the same name.
According to URI Director of Bands Brian Cardany, who
conducts both ensembles, the set will be about 90 minutes long, with a brief
intermission in between performances. The concert starts at 3:30 p.m. and
tickets can be purchased here.
On March 7 at 8 p.m., the Jazz Big Band will perform in the Concert Hall. The 18 student-musicians who make up the band range from first-year undergraduates to graduate students within the Department of Music.
The theme of the annual concert is “Voices in Jazz,” and
this year the department will feature the compositions of jazz pianist Ayn
Inserto, in addition to a rendition of “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell, as a
part of an effort to put the spotlight on female influences in the genre.
Inserto, who will also conduct the band at the concert,
is the assistant chair of Berklee College of Music. She won the ASCAP Young
Jazz Composer’s Award two years in a row.
“Normally at a concert like this, I would be the person
in front of the band leading the ensemble,” says Emmett Goods, director of jazz
studies and the Big Band at URI.
In the case of this concert, says Goods, “I try to step
back and have the guest artists come and work with the students,” in order to
“give the students the perspective of a woman in jazz, and have [her] take the
reins and lead the space.”
Tickets for the Big Band concert are $10 and $15.
On March 20, URI’s Symphony Orchestra will
hold its first spring performance at 8 p.m. in the Concert Hall. Luis Viquez,
director of orchestral studies and assistant professor of music, hopes the
concert will help to recognize underrepresented musical selections.
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 will
be included in the performance, a stunning piece of music in its own right that
is often overlooked in favor of Beethoven’s substantially more famous 5th and
9th symphonies, Viquez said.
Viquez hopes to shed light on Costa Rican composers, like
himself, with several pieces, Ostinato by
William Parras, and the 3rd Symphony by
late composer Mariano Herrera. Herrera’s 3rd Symphony was
written 61 years ago and never debuted, said Viquez, who obtained permission
from the Herrera family to include the symphony in the concert.
“We’re going to bring in a composition that was written
61 years ago, and we’re going to play it for the first time here in the United
States,” says Viquez. “This is really cool.”
The orchestra has about 55 musicians, the majority of
whom are students. Others include emeritus faculty and community members. The
hour-long event will include a short intermission. Tickets for the
symphony orchestra concert are $10 and $15.
On March 28, Viquez returns to the Concert Hall stage as
part of the Viquez-Wadley Trio, with father and son duo Darin and Logan
Wadley. The free concert starts at 8 p.m.
Darin Wadley is associate professor of percussion at the
University of South Dakota, specializing in marimba. His son, Logan, is a
graduate teaching assistant at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New
York, and plays the tuba.
The trio’s performance will feature several selections
that are being premiered for the first time, including the work of composers
Ian Kocher, Charles Dibbley, and Paul Lombardi. A composition by Logan Wadley
will also be featured.
Viquez says the individuality of the trio lies in the
uncommon combination of instruments–clarinet, tuba and drums. These instruments
are often reserved for different types of music, and so the repertoire was
determined in an intentional manner to highlight the experimental nature of the
trio.
“It’s going to be a very unique and different sound than
what people are used to hearing in a combination of three instruments,” says
Viquez.
Several of this semester’s upcoming performances will
weave into their repertoires a theme of recognition — debuting several
never-before-heard compositions, and emphasizing the unrecognized contributions
of women to the history of jazz.
In line with this theme, Viquez wants to ensure that URI
students, regardless of major, take advantage of the music program if making
music is something that they are passionate about. Around 30% of the students
in the orchestra are not music majors, he says.
“Any student can have the opportunity to make music at
the highest level, and be a part of an amazing music community, like the one
that we have,” he said.
This story was written by Samantha Melia, a senior
journalism and political science major at the University of Rhode Island and an
intern in the Department of Marketing and Communications.
