QUAD CITY WIND ENSEMBLE 2017 WINTER CONCERT
FIESTA: a musical celebration of the Carnival!
As the last "big bang" before Lent, Carnival typically involves public celebrations and parades combining some elements of a circus, masks, and a public street party. People wear masks and costumes during many such celebrations, allowing them to lose their everyday individuality and experience a heightened sense of social unity. There also appears to be something about the collecting of beads, prevalent in New Orleans, and a fair amount of debauchery. Of course, it's a matter of preparing for the penance of Lent.
The rich heritage of music is particularly exciting in the Spanish-speaking countries to our South. So, as the Carnival season draws to a close (Fat Tuesday is February 28), the Quad City Wind Ensemble embarks on a musical journey into the bright sounds of the Carnival.
"H. Owen Reed's (1910-2014) La Fiesta Mexicana is a landmark work of the band repertoire and requires great skill from all of the players. Seven years ago, we performed two of the movements, omitting the fiendishly difficult final movement. Here, we will offer it in all of its glory, captured by a composer who spent his Guggenheim fellowship intensely studying the native music. From the opening fireworks to an Aztec Dance; a celebration of the Catholic Mass to the festivities of Carnival itself, this piece probably unsurpassed in its command of the vernacular of the Mexican people." (BLH)
The huapango is a Mexican folk dance usually accompanied by a trio of instrumentalists, although the huapango de mariachi is played by a significantly larger group. Pablo Moncayo (1912 - 1958) took the dance several steps further in his Huapango for large ensemble. "Since first hearing this work in its original orchestra version (with Nick Palmer and the Dubuque Symphony), I've always hoped for a transcription. As it turned out, Leroy Osmon gave us one in 1986. You'll love it--I promise!" (BLH)
The Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra and conductor Gustavo Dudamel have made Arturo Marquez's (b. 1950) Danzon No. 2 their own. "Oliver Nickel's version for wind band is brilliant, rife with the solos of the original, and demonstrating that it can be performed with no strings attached. Beginning with a sensual tango, this dance (I would say, THE DANCE OF DANCES) introduces elements of the Malambo, lots of salsa, and just the general goodwill and excitement inherent at the Carnival. It's a gas, although I think the entire program is." (BLH)
We'll also be offering a pasodoble or two, as well as a Julie Giroux work appropriately entitled Carnival.
Great music will be made. Great fun will be had!
Free refreshments after the concert!
Tickets for the concert are $10 for Adults, $8 for Seniors, Students in 12th grade or younger are free.
3:00 PM, Sunday, February 26, 2017
St. Ambrose University, Galvin Fine Arts Center in Allaert Auditorium
518 West Locust Street, Davenport, IA 52803
Brian Hughes, D.M.A.
Winner of the 2015 American Prize, Wind Conducting
(563) 599-7730
maestroblh1@gmail.com
www.brianlhughes.com
“This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.” Leonard Bernstein
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| Quad City Wind Ensemble, Trumpet |
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| Quad City Wind Ensemble, Concert Timpani |
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| Quad City Wind Ensemble, Bass Clarinet |
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| Quad City Wind Ensemble, Crash Cymbals |
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| Quad City Wind Ensemble, English Horn |
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| Quad City Wind Ensemble, Saxophones |
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| Quad City Wind Ensemble, Snare Drum |
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| Quad City Wind Ensemble, Xylophone |
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| Quad City Wind Ensemble, Piccolo |
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| Quad City Wind Ensemble, French Horn |
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| Quad City Wind Ensemble, Clarinet |
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| Quad City Wind Ensemble, Flute |
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| Quad City Wind Ensemble, Percussion Triangle |
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| Quad City Wind Ensemble, Oboe |
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| Quad City Wind Ensemble, Tuba |
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| Quad City Wind Ensemble, Bass Drum |
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| Quad City Wind Ensemble, Trombone |
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| Quad City Wind Ensemble, Bassoon |
