Northwestern Bands to Present Final Band Concert of Semester

April 17, 2024

Members of the Northwestern Oklahoma State University Chamber Winds and Concert Band, along with the Jazz Ensemble, will present their final concert of the semester on Thursday, April 25, at 7 p.m. in Herod Hall Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

Eric Burger, director of instrumental music, said the concert will feature a wide variety of pieces.

Jazz Ensemble members will feature a varied program of many contemporary styles.

The group will perform Sammy Nestico’s “Loose Change” in the classic Count Basie style, and “Alto Soliloquy” featuring Jade Campbell, a Woodward sophomore majoring in instrumental music, on alto sax.

“Stuff Like That” was a No. 1 hit on the R & B charts, written by Quincy Jones and performed by Chaka Khan, and will be performed along with “Blue Bones” by Dominic Spera, an up-tempo swinger with a very contemporary sound featuring the trombone section.

Count Basie’s “Shiny Stockings” and “Blues in Hoss Flat” by Frank Foster will feature the classic sounds of one of the longest-performing big bands ever. The band will also perform “Back to the Blues” by Doug Beach, and the modern classic “Spirit of New Orleans” by Andy Classen.

The Wind Ensemble will perform a fanfare by Mark Lortz titled “Tidewater Fanfare,” and the classic “The Girl I Left Behind Me” by Leroy Anderson conducted by Jeff Cher-Aime, Newkirk graduate student majoring in American Studies.

The band will also present the enduring favorite “Second Suite in F” by Gustav Holst, and a piece composed by Northwestern Professor Emeritus Dr. Ed Huckeby “For Thy Courts Above” conducted by Chris Perez, Laverne junior majoring in instrumental music. Perez was also the Ed Huckeby Scholarship recipient from this year and last.

The band will also perform two newer works by Julie Giroux, an award-winning composer of wind band, film and video game music including “Mambo Perro Loco” (Crazy Dog Mambo), which is an original musical collage of Spanish dance forms including the Salsa, Bachata, Merengue, the Flamenco, the Fandango and various classical and folk dance styles, and “Beyond the Gates,” an intense and challenging work that was commissioned by the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association District 6 Band Directors.

Burger noted that “Beyond the Gates” is dedicated to the students who have stood strong through challenging times and continue to keep music as a part of their lives.

 Refreshments will be available during the short intermission to allow for a stage change.

 For more information about the band program at Northwestern, visit www.nwosu.edu/school-of-arts-and-sciences/fine-arts/bands-and-instrumental-music.

-NW-