Festival of Bands to feature world premiere piece

The Jacobs School of Music will present its annual Spring Festival of Woodwinds Brass and Percussion, featuring the Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band and Concert Band, at 8 p.m. Thursday in the Musical Arts Center.

The evening will feature the music of special guest composer Jonathan Newman, as well as musi0c by Rossini, Tchaikovsky and Puccini.  Before the festival, smaller musical groups will perform short sets in the lobby beginning at 7:15 p.m.  

“We’re just trying to make it a very special event for these people,” conductor Stephen Pratt said.

Along with Pratt, the conductors include Jeffrey Gershman, Paul Popiel and David Woodley.

Gershman will conduct the world premiere of “Symphony No. 1 for Band,” a three-movement piece by Newman.  

“It’s so brand-new that we just got the final parts of the music just a few weeks ago,” Pratt said. “It hasn’t even been heard before.”

After “Symphony,” Pratt will conduct the Wind Ensemble in the North American premiere of “Climbing Parnassus,” another Newman piece.  

Newman, a New York-based composer, is a “brand-new voice compositionally,” Pratt said.

“We think he has potential to be one of the leading composers for the next few decades,” he said.

Guest saxophonist Professor Otis Murphy will play a solo during the Wind Ensemble’s performance of Puccini’s “Tosca Fantasy.”

“How many world’s-best saxophonists are there?” Pratt said. “Not many. Dr. Murphy is certainly right up there with some of the best in the world. If he were playing at Carnegie Hall, it would be $80 a ticket. Here he plays for free.”

Murphy actually prefers playing with the IU students over seasoned professionals.

“Normally playing as professionals we just show up, have one or two rehearsals and we perform,” Murphy said. “But it’s a real treat to play here with the students because we often learn the music from the beginning together, and that’s really different and neat.”