UW Wind Symphony to Present ‘Fun and Games’ Oct. 1

The University of Wyoming Wind Symphony will present its season opener, “Fun and Games,” Sunday, Oct. 1.

The concert will take place at 3 p.m. in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts concert hall. The performance will mark Interim Director of Bands Ogechi Ukazu’s first appearance with the UW Wind Symphony.

Tickets are $12 for the public, $8 for senior citizens and $6 for students. A nominal processing fee will be charged for each ticket. To purchase tickets, visit the Performing Arts box office, call (307) 766-6666 or go online at www.tix.com/ticket-sales/uwyo/6984.

The concert will feature “Slava! A Political Overture” by Leonard Bernstein, arranged by Clare Grundman; “Jocuri Poporale Romanesti” (“Romanian Folk Dances”) by Bela Bartok, arranged by Yo Goto; “Heaven at Night” by Katahj Copley; “Adventures on Earth” by John Williams, arranged by Paul Lavender; and “The National Game,” a march by John Philip Sousa.

Guest conductor Amber Sturdevant, a UW alumna from Gillette, will conduct “Children’s March: ‘Over the Hills and Far Away’” by Percy Grainger, edited by Mark Rogers.

Ukazu has served as the associate conductor of the Dallas Winds, a highly regarded professional wind ensemble based in Dallas, Texas. Previously, she taught for 10 years in public schools in the Houston area, where she led both marching bands and concert band programs.

She is an avid proponent of quality music education for all students, and she has presented on music education advocacy at workshops and clinics across Texas and the U.S.

Her professional affiliations include the College Band Directors National Association, the National Association for Music Education, the Texas Music Educators Association, the Texas Bandmasters Association, Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity, Tau Beta Sigma and honorary membership in Kappa Kappa Psi.

Ukazu is a doctoral degree candidate in wind conducting at the University of Texas-Austin. She received her bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music, and she earned her master’s degree in conducting from Sam Houston State University.

Sturdevant received her bachelor’s degree in music education in 2018. After graduating from UW, she taught elementary through secondary school band and choir in Upton. She returned to UW in 2021 to pursue a master’s degree in music education, which she earned this past May.

Sturdevant has performed with the UW Symphony Orchestra and the UW Wind Symphony. As a graduate student, she served as a teaching assistant with Western Thunder Marching Band and the UW Symphonic Band.

She continues to hone her conducting skills at UW.

For more information, call Kathy Kirkaldie, UW Fine Arts coordinator, at (307) 766-2160 or email kirisk@uwyo.edu.