Symphonic Wind Ensemble Performs in Concert

Pacific Union College's Symphonic Wind Ensemble will perform its final concert of the school year at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, May 17, in the college's Paulin Hall. Admission is free.

The concert, which includes contemporary masterworks and established standards of wind ensemble literature, takes the audience on a musical tour of four continents. Robert W. Smith's Africa: Ceremony, Song and Ritual is based on the folk music of Western Africa and uses an expanded percussion section. Courtly Airs, written in 1995 by Ron Nelson, is a collection of short pieces in the style of various European countries. The award-winning Las Playas de Rio is a collection of movements, each named after a beach in Rio de Janeiro and each expressing the beauty and flavor of Brazilian music. From North America, John Philip Sousa's The Stars and Stripes Forever will be joined by Percy Grainger's Children's March, a light-hearted exploration of the tune "Over the Hills and Far Away." And finally, the concert's centerpiece, Watchman, Tell Us Of The Night, is not associated with any one continent, but is a tribute to the survivor of child abuse. It portrays the elements of loneliness, loss of innocence, and enduring hope.