Following its 16-day concert tour in Central Europe, the Gustavus Wind Orchestra and Conductor Douglas Nimmo will return to Christ Chapel for one final performance of the tour literature at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13. The wind orchestra’s home concert is free and open to the public.
The Gustavus Wind Orchestra’s tour itinerary in Central Europe included performances in the Czech Republic (Prague), Poland (Wroclaw with Radio Poland, Krakow and Kety), Hungary (Pomaz/Budapest) and Austria (Vienna and Salzburg). This tour is a reprise of the band’s concert tours to the region in 1994 and 2006 and included a joint concert with the Pomaz Wind Orchestra, from the Pomaz School of Music outside Budapest, Hungary, an ensemble which was formed following the Gustavus Wind Orchestra’s visit in 1994.
Saturday’s concert program opens with Jim Stephenson’s American Fanfare, and the 3rd movement of Howard Hanson’s Symphony No. 2, followed by Anthony Iancconne’s After a Gentle Rain, Philip Sparke’s Dance Movements and music from the motion picture Robin Hood by Michael Kamen. The 2nd half of the concert includes Wir gläuben all an einen Gott by J. S. Bach, (an organ solo by David Fienen,) William Bolcom’s Machine, Malcolm Arnold’s English Dances, and a composition that took on special significance for the ensemble after its visit to the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Birkenau — Eric Ewazen’s Hymn for the Lost and the Living. The home concert concludes with The Great Gate of Kiev, part of Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.
Saturday’s home concert brings together the work of the wind orchestra in preparing the music for the tour and in presenting the works in seven cities and four countries while on the tour. Inspiration for the concert will be taken from the magnificent cathedrals, castles and palaces, the picturesque mountains and lakes of Central Europe, the many people the group met along the way, as well as the already mentioned visit to Auschwitz.
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