Press ReleaseMarietta College’s Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble will perform their fall concert at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, November 20th, at the Peoples Bank Theatre. Their concert “Bach, to the Standards” will include quintessential wind band works by the greatest wind band composers of the early to the mid-20th century.
Christopher Schletter, Interim Director of Bands, said the fall concert is a reflective “nod” to the past – the traditions of the wind band, and its establishment as an integral part of our societal musical experience; one that is substantially American.
“Obviously, a play on words, this concert is a collection of some of the standard works from what is considered the core repertoire collection for wind band performed by groups of all levels,” Schletter said.
One of the pieces is a wind band transcription of Fantasia in G by J.S. Bach, hence Bach, to the Standards. Although there is only one transcription in the concert, the inclusion of this piece keeps with the traditions of the wind band dating back to the late 19th century when bands were known to perform transcriptions from various genres.
“This is part one of a two-part series programmed to illustrate the progression of wind band works,” Schletter said. “The first part is a look back at the repertoire that helped shape the wind band genre as it is known today and does not include music written after 1960. The spring concert will be a collection of new works for wind band and will include only works written after 1990.”
The repertoire for the concert includes:
- Flourish for Wind Band by Ralph (pronounced Raf) Vaughan Williams
- Fantasia in G by Johann Sebastian Bach
- Country Gardens and Irish Tune from County Derry by Percy Grainger
- Divertimento by Vincent Persichetti
- Chorale and Alleluia by Howard Hanson
- Suite of Old American Dances by Robert Russell Bennett
“Some of the greatest composers of the 20th Century have composed for wind band and we want to highlight those composers and their works,” Schletter said.
The concert is free and open to the public. The doors to the theatre will open for the audience entrance at 7:00 p.m. For more information: Christopher Schletter, cjs012@marietta.edu; Edward E. MacTaggart Music Department, (740) 376-4696; or Peoples Bank Theatre, (740) 373-0894.
Located in Marietta, Ohio, at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio rivers, Marietta College is a four-year liberal arts college. Tracing its roots to the Muskingum Academy back in 1797, the College was officially chartered in 1835. Today Marietta College serves a body of 1,200 full-time students. The College offers more than 50 majors and is consistently ranked as one of the top regional comprehensive colleges by U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review, as well as one of the nation’s best by Forbes.com. Marietta was selected seventh in the nation according to the Brookings Institution’s rankings of colleges by their highest value added, regardless of major. Marietta College has also been named a Great College to Work For two consecutive years (2018 and 2019).