The 73-member Gustavus Wind Orchestra and Conductor Douglas Nimmo are currently in central Europe on a concert tour through Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, and Germany. The Gustavus Adolphus College ensemble will present eight concerts on the 16-day tour, Jan. 20-Feb. 4, 2010. (See the below video clip of Conductor Nimmo explaining the value of international music tours and keep up with the tour via blog posts, also linked below.)
The grand cities of central Europe included on the tour are Prague, Krakow, Budapest, Vienna, and Salzburg. In addition to this grandeur, the wind orchestra will visit Hradec Kralov, considered one of the most beautiful towns in Bohemia, Wroclaw, Kety (Poland), and Pomaz (Hungary).
The ensemble’s first performance stop: the St. Simon and Juda Church in the heart of Prague’s old city. This is the first of the “return” concerts for the Gustavus Wind Orchestra, which has been in Europe three times in the past 16 years.
From Prague, the ensemble travels north into Poland for visits in Hradec, Kralov, and Wroclaw. Upon leaving Wroclaw, the group travels to Krakow through Silesia and the southern Polish city of Oswiecim, known to the world as Auschwitz, where historians estimate four million people perished between 1940 and 1945. Following a visit to the camp and the National Museum of Oswiecim, the ensemble moves on to Krakow for a concert at St. Katherine’s Church and a return concert at Kety’s Parafia Najswietszego Serca Jezusa.
From Poland, the group travels to Hungary for a clinic/performance exchange at the music school in Pomaz and an evening concert in the Jewel of Hungary, the combined cities of Buda and Pest, on the Danube River. The last day of January, the band travels into Austria for its concerts in Vienna and Salzburg, and the final destination of Munich before departure for the U.S. on Feb. 4.
The wind orchestra’s final concert on the tour, its home concert, is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13 in Christ Chapel. This performance is free and open to the public.
A complete itinerary for the Gustavus Wind Orchestra 2010 Central European Tour can be found online at gustavus.edu/finearts/touringschedule/#gwo. Readers may also follow the band’s progress through blogs from road.
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