CSU East Bay’s Music Department has two upcoming concerts that will give listeners traditional elements with an added flare.
The Symphony Orchestra concert will be Thursday, Feb. 24, at 7:30 p.m. in the Music Recital Hall. The Wind Symphony concert will be Tuesday, March 8, at 7:30 p.m. at the University Theater.
Both the Symphony Orchestra and the Wind Symphony have been preparing for these upcoming performances for a long time.
“A lot of rehearsal preparation goes into preparing concerts with both the Symphony Orchestra and Wind Symphony,” said Dr. Wesley Broadnax, Director of Bands and Orchestras at CSUEB. “We are very pleased to present these two concerts, as the repertoire will be very exciting to both ensembles.”
Both the Symphony Orchestra and the Wind Symphony have 40-45 musicians. The Symphony Orchestra not only features CSUEB students, but community players as well.
Listeners can look forward to three works from each concert, both having a classic, but exciting, modern feel. The Symphony Orchestra’s concert will feature two contemporary works by composer and CSUEB alumnus Nicholas Vasallo—one piece will be performed by the small chamber ensemble, the next for the Large Orchestra. Lastly, the Symphony Orchestra concert will play “Symphony No. 1 in G Minor” by Russian composer Vasily Kalinnikov.
“This is the first of only two symphonies this composer wrote, and the audience will enjoy it very much,” said Broadnax.
The Wind Symhony’s March 8 concert features a high-energy fanfare by Samuel Hazo, a concert band suite by Giancarlo Aqualanti, a Stanford University composer, and a serious work from Pulitzer Prize Winner and composer Joseph Schwantner entitled, “Concerto for Percussion.”
“This work was originally written for solo percussion and orchestra, but was rescored for solo percussion and wind ensemble by Andrew Boysen Jr.,” said Broadnax. “There will be an array of percussion instruments that will create sounds not traditionally used in each ensemble, as well as complex rhythms executed by all players.”
Although some of the music is not completely traditional to ensemble, Broadnax said the musical compositions are complex enough to not obscure traditional harmony and tonality.
Students, as well as the Hayward community, can expect to gain a bit of a different perspective than a traditional ensemble. These concerts use sound in a variety of ways that give the listener a contemporary feel to what might be thought of as a traditional ensemble experience.
