341 WIND ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE FEATURES PIECE INSPIRED BY GIRL’S DREAMS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 5, 2007
CONTACT: Tim Musselman, 615-898-2493

April 13th Concert is Free & Open to the Public

(MURFREEBORO)—The MTSU Wind Ensemble will perform a free and open concert at 7:30 p.m. April 13 in the T. Earl Hinton Music Hall of the Wright Music Building on the MTSU campus.
The group will perform David Maslanka’s A Child's Garden of Dreams, Mike Mower’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Orchestra, and John Corigliano’s Gazebo Dances.
John and Marietta Paynter commissioned the first piece, A Child’s Garden of Dreams, for the Northwestern University Symphonic Wind Ensemble.
Regarding this work, Reed Thomas, MTSU director of bands and conductor for the ensemble, said it was taken from a 10-year-old girl’s dreams recorded in "Man and His Symbols" by Carl Jung, a psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology.
Second on the program will be Mower’s concerto, which was commissioned by a group of 12 universities led by the University of Kentucky. The work was premiered in spring o2005. Don Aliquo, director of jazz studies and associate professor of saxophone at MTSU, will perform this piece with the Wind Ensemble.
"Written in three movements, the piece begins with an energetic 7/8 meter presented by the marimba and vibraphone,” Thomas explained. “Eventually, other members of the ensemble are added to the mix until the entire ensemble is playing prior to the soloist’s first appearance.”
The last work of the evening, Corigliano’s Gazebo Dances, will consist of four movements: Overture, Waltz, Adagio, and Tarantella.
"While not a dance, per se, the Overture is dance like in its character," Thomas. noted.
Additionally, Thomas said, “John Corigliano is one of the finest and most widely recognized American composers. Among the dozens of citations, doctorates, and other honors he has received are included all of the most important music awards — several Grammies, a Pulitzer Prize for his Symphony No. 2 (2001), a Grawemeyer for his Symphony No. 1 (1991) and an Academy Award for his score to Francois Girard's 1997 film The Red Violin.”
The Wind Ensemble of MTSU is the premiere performing ensemble for wind, brass and percussion students at the university. These players are quickly becoming recognized as one of the outstanding university ensembles in the U.S. and abroad, Reed said, and invitations have been held to perform in Thailand, Korea, Japan and several European countries.
This concert is free and open to the public.
For more information on this and other events in the McLean School of Music, please visit www.mtsumusic.com or call 615-898-2493.


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