Yale Concert Band to present Overtures and Icons: the Music of Gershwin, Holst, Wagner, and Shostakovich

Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director

Friday, October 10, 2014

7:30 PM,

Woolsey Hall (500 College Street), New Haven

Free Admission

George Gershwin composed Cuban Overture after his 1932 visit to Havana. This exciting piece, filled with native percussion and Caribbean rhythms, embodies the spirit of Cuban dance.

Gustav Holst’s Second Suite in F is based on English folk songs and dance. Each of its four movements possesses its own distinctive character—from slow and tender to lively and complex—ending with a resetting of the well-known tune “Greensleeves”.

Byron Adams composed Ballade for Piano and Wind Orchestra in 1986 for the Yale Concert Band. It is comprised of two contrasting sections: a lyrical piano melody and a rapid, march-like theme. This performance will feature pianist David Molina YC ’15.

Richard Wagnerwrote Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral, a piece filled with medieval color and pageantry, as part of his opera Lohengrin. John Bourgeois’s dramatic arrangement features the mighty Newberry Memorial Organ. 

…plus Apotheosis from Grand Symphonie for Band (Berlioz), Prelude in Dorian Mode (De Cabezon, arr. Grainger), and Folk Dances (Shostakovich, arr. Reynolds).

Public info phone: (203) 432-4111; http://www.yale.edu/yaleband