The Northwest Wind Symphony will open its 2018-19 season at 7 p.m. on Oct. 20 at Centralia College.
The Northwest Wind Symphony opened its 2018-19 season at 7 p.m. on Oct. 20 at Centralia College.
The Northwest Wind Symphony, shown here rehearsing in 2017 with guest conductor Larry Gookin, begins its 2018-19 season on Oct. 20.
The last of three concerts making up the 2018-19 season of the Northwest Wind Symphony will hit the stage at 7 p.m. on April 13 at the Corbet Theatre of Centralia College. Advance tickets are available for $12 at Book ’n’ Brush in Chehalis.
Musicians from all reaches of the Pacific Northwest congregate in the Twin Cities once each fall, winter and spring for a performance under the direction of Dr. Dan Schmidt, who will lead the band to the conclusion of a narrative he had in mind when crafting the set lists the prior year.
“When we started the season, we wanted the focus to be on the Four Freedoms (by Norman Rockwell). The basic tenets of America. Then, primarily English music of where we came from, though it ended up being more British. Now, this one is about who makes up America, who we are. We’re just a big variation.”
Variations are indeed a constant of the program for the spring show titled “Who We’ve Become.” Four of the seven compositions include the word in their titles, with a fifth score comprised of variations on a folk song.
The evening will begin with a rendition of Festival Variations by Claude T. Smith, followed by Variations on America by Charles Ives and An American Tapestry by Daniel Kallman. The Liberty Bell by John Philip Sousa ends the first portion of the concert, with American Variations by Jerry Bilik greeting patrons as they settle in after intermission.
Aaron Copland’s Variations on a Shaker Melody and Americans We by Henry Fillmore are set to close out the show and the season. John Welsh, a longtime conductor and music director in Washington is scheduled to guest-conduct Variations on America, as well as the Copland piece.
Welsh has been a guest conductor for the NWS once before and is a fan of Ives’ work in particular. The Danbury, Connecticut native grew up a church organist in the late 1800’s and carries a reputation today of a unique personality with a very dry sense of humor.
“There’s a theme in all of Ives’ works, especially his fourth symphony, where you’ll hear in the process external to the music, you’ll hear a marching band going by,” Welsh said. “It’s part of how he wrote his music, which is very interesting in that respect. It’s really tongue-in-cheek — you should chuckle by the end.”
Welsh and Schmidt each share a connection to the Smith piece set to open the performance that goes far beyond the notes themselves.
Schmidt was serving as one of the leaders of the United States Air Force Band and Symphony in 1982. He sat in the audience for the world premiere of Festival of Variations at the Music Educators National Conference in San Antonio, Texas.
Welsh was assigned to the Military Airlift Command Band and the United States Air Force Band and Symphony during his time as Captain in the U.S. Air Force. The piece itself was commissioned by the Air Force Band.
“It will be by far the most difficult piece on the program,” Schmidt said. “(Smith) had a college roommate who wound up becoming the principal hornist in the Air Force Band, so he wrote this hellaciously difficult horn part not just for the roommate, but the whole section. If you’re a horn player, it’s as difficult to perform as any orchestral part. It’s a barnburner of a piece that exudes joy.”
The 29th season of the Northwest Symphony Orchestra will begin sometime in the fall of 2019. Dates have not yet been set for the upcoming season.
For more information, visit northwestwindsymphony.org or email connect@northwestwindsymphony.org
