The biennial Gustavus Music Showcase, featuring performances by the Gustavus Choir, the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra, the Gustavus Wind Orchestra and the Gustavus Jazz Lab Band, will be presented at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church (900 Stillwater Avenue) in Mahtomedi on Sunday, March 16. The performance is free and open to the public and will begin at 3:30 p.m. Donations to cover the expenses of the Showcase will be accepted at the door.
The Gustavus Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Dr. Ruth Lin, will open Sunday’s showcase with In Nature’s Realm Op, 91by Antonin Dvorak and the second movement of Gustav Mahler’sSymphony No.1 in D Major. The symphony will be followed by the Gustavus Jazz Lab Band, directed by Dr. Steve Wright. The jazz ensemble will present three works, opening with a Steve Wright arrangement of Until I Met You (Corner Pocket) by Freddie Green & Don Wols and a Gil Evans’ arrangement of the Leo Delibes’ The Maids of Cadiz. The band’s final work is Steve Wright’s Einstein.
The Gustavus Choir and Conductor Gregory Aune will open the second half of Sunday’s concert with a number of works from its recent winter concert tour and next week’s performance at the American Choral Directors Association meeting in Des Moines. The Choir’s program opens with Bach’s The Righteous and Jaako Mäntyjärvi’s Double, Double Toil and Trouble with text from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. A work commissioned by Gustavus and written by American composer Eric Whitacre, Very Soon, is next on the Choir’s program. Whitacre’s work was commissioned through the Ross and Ruth Heilman gift for commissioning new works and is a collection of the composer’s thoughts set to music before the birth of his first child. The Gustavus Choir will continue with works by Jan Sandström and Will Todd and will conclude with the traditional spiritual, I Don’ Feel No Ways Tired, arranged by Stacey Gibbs.
The Gustavus Wind Orchestra, which has recently returned from a 16-day, 8-concert tour of Eastern & Central Europe with Dr. Douglas Nimmo as its conductor, will conclude Sunday’s program with performances of Philip Sparke’s Celebration andDanza Final from Alberto Ginestera’s Estancia.
The tradition of excellence you’ll hear at the Gustavus Music Showcase doesn’t happen without the dedication and service of the faculty in the Department of Music. And while we, as a community, celebrate the work of the entire department of students and faculty, we especially recognize the work of Dr. Douglas Nimmo and Dr. Steve Wright, whose long and dedicated service to Gustavus concludes at the end of this semester. Together these two music educators have served the College for more than 50 years and have touched the lives of thousands of Gustavus students in the classroom and on the stage, and many more members of the larger Gustavus community with concert tours across the United States and Europe.
The student-musicians and the faculty of the Department of Music at Gustavus invite you to attend Sunday’s Gustavus Music Showcase and celebrate the dedication of the students and the faculty of the Department of Music. The concert begins at 3;30 p.m. at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church (900 Stillwater Avenue) in Mahtomedi. The Showcase is free and open to the public. Donations will be accepted at the door and a reception for the audience will follow the concert in St. Andrew’s atrium.
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