The UW Wind Symphony performs a free concert Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts
concert hall.
The University of Wyoming Department of Music’s popular Festival of Winds will take place Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 14-16. The festival features guest artists, the UW Wind Symphony, Wyoming Jazz Ensemble, Symphonic Band, and three festival ensembles for a weekend of great jazz and concert band sounds.
The Festival of Winds is the annual event that brings to campus select high school band musicians. This year, 175 students from three states have been nominated and invited to learn and perform. These musicians will experience master classes and performances by UW wind and percussion faculty; a clinic by guest jazz artist Dave Pietro; the opportunity for senior students to audition for Department of Music Scholarships; the opportunity to perform together in two concert bands and a jazz ensemble; and be guests at concerts by UW ensembles.
The UW concerts will begin Thursday with a 7:30 p.m. performance in the College of Arts and Sciences auditorium by the Wyoming Jazz Ensemble, which is directed by Scott Turpen and features jazz saxophone artist Dave Pietro. Tickets cost $7 for the public and $5 for students and senior citizens. To purchase tickets, visit the Fine Arts or Wyoming Union box offices or visit the website at http://uwyo.edu/finearts.
The free Friday concerts will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts concert hall and will feature two of UW’s concert bands -- the Symphonic Band, conducted by Brad Williamson, and the Wind Symphony, conducted by Robert Belser. Lindsey Bird Reynolds, UW’s oboe instructor, will join the Wind Symphony and, during Vaughan Williams’ “Concerto for Oboe,” Reynolds will solo with a wind ensemble from the Symphonic Band.
The weekend of wind and percussion music will culminate Saturday with the participating students in Festival Honors Ensembles in concert at 3 p.m. in the Fine Arts concert hall.
