Musical lineup includes jazz from 1924, music that addresses natural disasters, and a marching band presentation
By Ethan Weiner
Tickets for each concert can be purchased through Eventbrite
or at the box office one hour prior to the performance. General admission
tickets are $15, $10 for students and seniors 60 and older. Children 12 and
under get in free. All events will be held at the Fine Arts Center Concert
Hall, 105 Upper College Road, Kingston. To see a full schedule of performances
for the semester, check out music
events.
The Jazz Big Band, directed and taught by
Emmett Goods, is a 15-piece ensemble showcasing the world of jazz and what it
has to offer. The concert, entitled “It Was a Very Good Year,” will feature
music associated with jazz artists born in 1924 and will include a pre-concert
talk by Goods. The concert starts at 3 p.m.
The main reason for performing music from 1924, Goods said,
is the abundance of significant jazz musicians, ranging from pianist and
composer Bud Powell and trombonist J.J. Johnson to vocalists Sarah Vaughan and
Dinah Washington.
There will be a variety of solos taking place throughout the
concert but “keep an eye out for freshman Sebastian Rosa performing a solo on
the trumpet,” Goods said.
On Sunday, Oct. 27, The American Band concert
was developed around a three-movement work by Julie Giroux called Culloden,
which honors the music of the Scottish Highlands in the mid-18th century, said
Brian Cardany, director of the band. The American Band is one of the earliest
established community bands in the country. The concert starts at 3 p.m.
URI Wind Ensemble and Concert Band will perform in a joint concert that will take place Sunday, Nov. 3, at 3 p.m., under the direction of Cardany, URI’s director of bands. This will be the fourth time that the Concert Band and Wind Ensemble participate in a joint concert, but they will perform separately.
The Concert Band will perform four songs, Halcyon
Hearts (Katahj Copley), Aquarium (Johan de
Meij), Sheltering Sky (John Mackey), and Elements (Brian
Balmages). Sheltering Sky will be led by graduate conductor
Ryan Cox.
The Wind Ensemble will also perform four songs, Liberty
Bell March (John Philip Sousa), Symphonic Songs
for Band (Robert Russell Bennett), Missouri Shindig (H.
Owen Reed) and Free Running (Robert Buckley).
Taking their talents to the stage rather than the field,
the Ram Marching Band, also coordinated by Cardany, will
perform in the Fine Arts Center on Friday, Nov. 15, at 8 p.m. Joining the band
will be the Color Guard to perform their floor show.
“The goal is to present concerts that are rewarding and
educational for the members, and also engaging for our audiences,” said
Cardany.
The URI Concert Choir plans to take the
audience on an emotional journey through music on Tuesday, Nov. 19, at 7 p.m.
Mark Conley and his Concert Choir will be taking a slightly different approach
this year.
Conley said, “We are exploring music that addresses natural
disasters and our place in these calamities, exploring a range from sorrow to
contemplation to hope and even perhaps to joy. We will also be exploring the
role music plays in that experience.”
Conley said the audience should look for a couple of solos
in the performance, one is an extended dialogue between a solo quartet and the
rest of the choir. Another is an extended solo in the choir’s final piece of
the concert.
