The Wilma & Missoula Community Concert Band will present Time Traveler on November 13, 2017.
The Missoula Community Concert Band will kick off their 27th season with the theme “Time Traveler,” led by conductor Benedict Kirby. The intent of the evening’s performance, which is free to the public, is to take you on a journey through time, exploring the progression of various classic to contemporary pieces of concert/wind band music. This time travel begins in the 1590’s, with an arrangement of British composer William Byrd’s Earl of Oxford’s March. This piece was originally written for harpsichord, arranged in a very jubilant melodic styling by Phillip Sparke.
We next find ourselves in 1866, in an Austrian Village for Franz von Suppe’s Light Cavalry Overture. This piece was part of an operetta, meant to represent the sound of the horsemen portrayed in the operetta—this should be a familiar tune! Next is a folk music based cultural piece, Slavonic Rhapsody No. 1, written by German composer Carl Friedman in 1903. This features some virtuosic performances by sections of the band, covering various folk themes from lyrical to rousing. American composer John Barnes Chance wrote the next piece, Incantation and Dance in 1960, starting with a slow, lyrical introduction by the flutes and ending with the entire band joining in for an exciting rhythmic dance. Leonard Bernstein’s passionate and endearing “A Simple Song” follows.
This is the second movement of his “Mass,” commissioned by Jackie Kennedy for the opening of the Kennedy Center for the Arts. We will then pay tribute to local composer David Maslanka, who passed away August 7, 2017, by playing his Variants on a Hymn Tune. Maslanka wrote this piece in 1994 for soloist and small ensemble, and will feature euphonium soloist Luther Manasco. The journey through time will finish with an exuberant contemporary piece, called Go written by Samuel Hazo in 2010. Written to be a concert opener, we felt this was a fitting way to close the show, on a wave of energy. We hope you will join us for an exciting evening of music.
The Missoula Community Concert Band is an all-adult woodwind/brass/percussion performing ensemble. Our mission is to promote concert band repertoire for Western Montana, and support the arts in our community. We play a spring and fall concert each year, as well as outreach concerts at local schools. We are a non-profit organization, and we appreciate the support of our community. The concert is free, although we do encourage any in-kind donations as you see fit, on the evening of the concert.