[563] MTSU Wind Ensemble to be featured in weekend radio performance

MURFREESBORO — MTSU's Wind Ensemble and its two acclaimed classical CD releases will be featured on a Huntsville, Alabama, public radio program this Saturday, May 3, that can be heard online locally via live streaming and later podcast.

Recordings by the university’s premier performing ensemble for wind, brass and percussion students are scheduled as part of WLRH Radio’s weekly “Brass, Reeds and Percussion” show, hosted by John Hightower.

The 30-minute show is set to air at noon Saturday on Huntsville’s 89.3 FM as well as on the WLRH website, http://wlrh.org. A podcast of the program will be available later at the website.

MTSU's Wind Ensemble is the only university band in Tennessee with recordings released by Naxos of America, the Franklin, Tennessee, U.S. headquarters for the Hong Kong-based Naxos classical music group.

Reviewers praised the “excellent playing” on its second CD, “Earthrise," a collaboration with three international composers that was released in February. The ensemble also earned applause for its “highly accomplished” work on its 2011 Naxos release, "Angels in the Architecture.”

Dr. Reed Thomas, director of bands and a professor of music and conducting in MTSU's renowned School of Music, conducted the Wind Ensemble on both "Angels in the Architecture” and "Earthrise.”

“What an exciting opportunity for MTSU and our Wind Ensemble students to have the chance to record two discs on the Naxos Label and then have them aired over the radio,” said Thomas.

The WLRH program also will discuss the work of American composers Frank Ticheli and Nigel Clarke. Ticheli’s work was the focus of the Wind Ensemble’s “Angels in the Architecture” CD, while Clarke, a former MTSU composer-in-residence, provided the title piece and two other scores for “Earthrise.”

WLRH’s “Brass, Reeds and Percussion” features music composed for the typical high school, university or military band and provides information about local wind band performances, players and history.

You can learn more about the MTSU Wind Ensemble and its work at http://mtsunews.com/wind-ensemble-2nd-naxos-cd. For more information on MTSU’s School of Music, call 615-898-2493 or visit www.mtsumusic.com.