Wind Symphony to Perform Nov. 16 at UW

The University of Wyoming Wind Symphony will present its second performance of the fall semester with “Classic Creations -- From Angels to Sousa” Thursday, Nov. 16, at 7:30 p.m. in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts concert hall.

Directed by UW Department of Music Professor Bob Belser, the Wind Symphony features UW’s premier wind and percussion musicians. A wide variety of band classics, new and old, will be featured, along with the voice of soprano Maureen Boddicker, UW Department of Music lecturer.

Tickets cost $10 for the public, $7 for seniors and $6 for students. Tickets are available at the Performing Arts box office and the Wyoming Union information desk, by calling (307) 766-6666 or by going online at www.uwyo.edu/finearts.

The concert will feature the symphony’s horn section in the “American Overture for Band.” Boddicker joins the ensemble for “Angels in the Architecture,” a musical experience of light and good versus dark and evil, Belser says. Music from American composers Samuel Barber and John Philip Sousa also highlights the program.

Also featured in the concert is recent research from Belser.

“British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams began a concerto grosso for band in 1923, but he never finished it due to his increasing popularity as England’s most notable composer, particularly for his incredible choral works, his reworking of church music of Thomas Tallis, and commissions to write symphonies for London’s orchestras,” Belser says.

In collaboration with a Williams scholar, on one of the unfinished movements, Belser edited and scored for band a third movement.

“The concert will feature the premiere of this ‘What if Vaughan Williams completed his initial intent?’” Belser says. “For patrons who like a wide range of music and emotional journeys, and, of course, including tapping your toe to a Sousa march at the end of the evening, this concert should be a treat.”

For more information, call Belser at (307) 766-3877 or email belserrs@uwyo.edu.