The Lamont Wind Ensemble performs at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25 in Gates Concert Hall at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts.
The award-winning Lamont Wind Ensemble, directed by Joseph Martin, is recognized for interesting, diverse, and approachable programming.
The ensemble’s upcoming Golden Age of Bands concert features several pieces that might have been heard in a band concert of the 1950-1960s, beginning with a popular transcription for winds, Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture.
“I feel the wind ensemble captures all the enthusiasm and excitement of this famous work with an extra splash of color from all the diverse families of winds and percussion,” Martin says. The program will continue with Beethoven’s classic Rondino, followed by Copland’s Emblems.
“[Rondino’s] subtlety and gentle charm provides a wonderful contrast to perhaps one of the most famous compositions for wind ensemble, Emblems,” Martin says. “Emblems was one of Copland’s final compositions for large ensemble, and it combines the harmonic vocabulary of many of his later works with all the power and patriotic nostalgia expected from his most famous orchestral works.”
Guest soloist Vince DiMartino will perform Aria for Trumpet and Winds by Flor Peeters. “I’ve had the pleasure of working with Vince in the past, and without belaboring his impressive resume, I’d like to state that he is one of our very best trumpet players, and one of the kindest, most sincere people I’ve met. You’ll hear all of this in his playing,” Martinsays.
The concert will close with a cornerstone of the wind repertoire, Alfred Reed’s Armenian Dances. “This classic of the band literature alternates between gentle dance movements with some of the prettiest melodies you’ll hear and rousing movements with as much energy as we can handle,” says Martin.
The concert is at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25 in Gates Concert Hall at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts. Admission is free, no tickets necessary. Parking is free at the Newman Center parking garage.
For all upcoming Lamont events visit the online Web Calendar.