Symphonic Concert Band, Wind Ensemble performing

The Grove City College Department of Music presents the Symphonic Concert Band and Wind Ensemble Concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 24, in Ketler Auditorium of the Pew Fine Arts Center on campus.

The ensembles are under the direction of Dr. Joseph M. Pisano ’94, director of bands and professor of music. The concert is free and open to the public.

The concert will feature performances of music from guest conductor and composer Drew R. Fennell, a renowned trumpeter who has played with every major professional ensemble in western Pennsylvania, including the Pittsburgh Opera, Pittsburgh Ballet, and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Since 1998, he has made his performing home with River City Brass. He teaches applied trumpet at Grove City College and has written hundreds of arrangements and composed over 20 new works for orchestra, brass band and wind ensembles.

The Symphonic Concert Band will be performing works from Brahms, Hazo, Marquina, and Sousa in addition to Fennell’s “Lux Aeternam” and “Letters Home”. “Lux Aeternam” opens with a brilliant brass fanfare and is intertwined with the hymn “All Creatures of our God and King.” “Letters Home” is a tribute to the men and women and their families that served during World War II and is composed as a programmatic narrative that features actual letters written during the time. Student Kassaundra Funch ’18, one of the outstanding student conductors from the advanced instrumental conducting program, will direct Brahms’ “Academic Overture.”

The Wind Ensemble will be performing Mark Camphouse’s “Foundation” and excerpts from Copland’s “Appalachian Spring.”

Ketler Auditorium opens at 7 p.m. Free parking for the concert is available adjacent to the Pew Fine Arts Center. For more information, contact the Music Office at Grove City College at 724.458.2084.

For more information on the Grove City College Department of Music visit www.gcc.edu/music.