The Muskegon Community College Wind Ensemble and the Jazz Ensemble, conducted by Daniel M. Meyers, will perform their Winter Concert on Friday, Feb. 18, at 7:30 p.m. in the Orchard View High School Auditorium. Doors open at 7 p.m. and admission is a free will donation.
The Wind Ensemble will perform four selections:
- “October” by Eric Whitacre. The simple, pastoral melodies and the subsequent harmonies are inspired by the great English Romantics and Whitacre’s favorite season.
- “Amparito Roca” by Jaime Teixidor arr. Aubrey Winter. A pasodoble and one of the better known pieces of Spanish music around the world. Composed in 1925 by Teixidor, who named it after one of his young piano students.
- Children’s March “Over the Hills and Far Away” by Percy Grainger arr. Frank Erickson. First composed in 1916 as a work for piano, and expanded for military band to capitalize on Grainger’s new familiarity with the ensemble’s capabilities, the piece echoes the carefree sentiment of the folk songs he collected in the British Isles.
- “At Morning’s First Light” by David Gillingham. From the opening thin layers of sound, a broad, sweeping feel emerges, sprinkled with active lines depicting nature awakening.
The Jazz Ensemble will conclude the evening’s performance with three numbers:
- “In the Mood” by Joe Garland arr. Jeff Tyzik. A popular big band-era jazz standard recorded by American bandleader Glenn Miller. In 2004, the recording was inducted into the Library of Congress National Recording Registry.
- “Alone Together” by Arthur Schwartz arr. Mike Kamuf. Originally written for the 1932 musical “Flying Colors,” this jazz standard has been recorded by a “who’s who” of jazz icons, including Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Julie London, and Ella Fitzgerald.
- “Absoludicrous” by Gordon Goodwin. Straight-up, no apologies funk from American Grammy Award-winning composer and musician Gordon Goodwin.
For more information, contact Daniel Meyers at (231) 777-0278 or daniel.meyers@muskegoncc.edu.