The rich tones of the brass instruments, the trills and rapid notes of the woodwinds and the thundering sounds of percussion filled the Musical Arts Center Friday night.
The Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band and Concert Band came together last night for the Jacobs School of Music’s “A Spring Festival of Woodwinds, Brass, and Percussion.” The concert was free and open to the public.
The performance featured conductors Stephen Pratt, Eric Smedley and David Woodley.
The main focus of the concert, also entitled “Salute to Shostakovich,” was a tribute to Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich. This year is the 40th anniversary of the composer’s death, and the majority of the event consisted of performances of his music.
The three ensembles include undergraduate, masters and doctoral students studying music. They have been rehearsing the music for two weeks.
The event also featured other works besides those of Shostakovich, including premiere works by doctoral students in the school of music. IU student Benjamin Taylor’s original composition, “Shattering Infinity,” was performed by the Symphonic Band. The Wind Ensemble played IU student Jason Nam’s wind arrangement of William Bolcom’s piece “Inventing Flight.”
Pratt, professor of music at the Jacobs School of Music, conducted the Wind Ensemble. He said he was pleased with the ensembles’ work on the Shostakovich pieces.
“The combination of technical, sparkling music and people who can play it really well is exciting,” Pratt said.
“Inventing Flight” includes three movements about the history and mythology of flight. The movements are called Daedalus and Icarus, Leonardo and Wilbur and Orville. Nam, who is in his final semester of doctoral study, said he had been working on the project for more than a year and a half and was excited to see his work performed.
“It’s just a really neat way to culminate my time here as a student,” Nam said.
He described the piece as having a wide variety of styles.
“It’s a really interesting piece,” Nam said. “It covers a lot of different styles in one piece. It’s between really abstract approaches to composition and very approachable aspects.”
Pratt praised Nam’s arrangement of “Inventing Flight.”
“You can almost hear the planes taking off,” he said.
Woodley, professor of music, conducted the Concert Band. He likes seeing all three groups in one concert, he said. Also, the concert provides the opportunity to wrap up the semester and work with students for the last time.
One of his favorite parts about the concert is the variety of music, he said. Woodley described the repertoire as a “combination of the old and the new.”
Trumpet player Melinda Ho, who played in the Concert Band, said she enjoyed how the concert included all three groups. She also liked the music selection.
“Shostakovich is a really relevant composer, even today,” she said.
Nam said he was excited about the concert as whole.
“It’s a really great way to end the year within the Department of Bands with all three groups working together and celebrating the progress and work everyone’s done over the course of the semester and year,” he said.
