By Sarah McMillin, Staff writer
The University Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble will pay tribute to American composer Leonard Bernstein in their final concert of the year on Sunday, April 29 at 2:30 p.m.
This year marked the 100th anniversary of Bernstein’s birth. Bernstein is famous for his work with the New York Philharmonic and his compositions of “West Side Story” and “On The Town.”
Each group will perform a piece by Bernstein: the Symphonic Band will perform “Overture to Candide” and the Wind Ensemble will perform “Prelude, Fugue & Riffs.”
The other pieces that will be performed are “Fantasia for Alto Saxophone” by Claude T. Smith and “Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Wind Band” by Robert Muczynski, which both feature associate professor of music Gail Levinsky on alto saxophone.
The repertoire also includes “Children’s March” by Percy Grainger and “Awayday” by Adam Gorb.
The piece “Awayday” fits into the Bernstein theme as it is partially inspired by his work throughout his career.
Part of the piece features a percussion break that is reminiscent of “Mambo” from “West Side Story.”
Eric Hinton, music professor and director of bands, met Gorb while he was studying in the United Kingdom.
Hinton invited Gorb to campus to work with student composers and the Wind Ensemble on “Awayday.”
According to Hinton, “Awayday” is a challenging piece, but he is proud of what the group has accomplished.
“I am particularly happy with the way they have embraced ‘Awayday,’” Hinton said. “It’s a very difficult piece and they’ve done exceedingly well with it.”
The groups combined have 50 students performing in the upcoming concert.
Both music and non-music majors are involved in the performance and in music groups on campus.
For six seniors, this is their last collegiate band performance. The seniors involved are Maggie Benjamin on flute, Aaron Fast on string bass, Lydia Getgen on horn, Dylan Little on trumpet, Darby Orris on saxophone and Sarah Wolman on clarinet.
The seniors will be recognized at the concert and will wear flowers.
Hinton said he is proud of what the band has accomplished this year.
“This has been an extremely good year for the bands at [Susquehanna],” Hinton said. “The students are performing at a very high level and they’ve been very responsive to the challenges posed by this year’s repertoire.”