Ithaca College Brass Choir In Concert

12/06/10

 The Ithaca College Brass Choir will perform in concert this Wednesday, December 8th, at 8:15 p.m. in Ford Hall at the James J. Whalen Center for Music.

 This performance is the culmination of a semester's work in the Ithaca College Brass Choir, a minor ensemble comprised of brass instruments and percussion. This particular performance will feature a variety of works spanning all styles and eras of Western Music, including a world premiere performance by a current Ithaca College Junior, Andrew Thomson.

The program will begin with a flashy and fast-paced "Western Fanfare" by Eric Ewazen and then move to a cornerstone piece: Fisher Tull's "Variations on an Advent Hymn" which takes the chant tune "Veni Emmanuel" through a series of musical treatments. Stepping back in musical history, the concert will next feature Ithaca College alum and current faculty member Amanda DeMaris as a soprano soloist on Claudio Monteverdi's "Sonata sopra Sancta Maria ora pro Nobis," a delicate work which features reduced instrumentation and stylistic nuance indicative of the late Renaissance Era.  The first half of the concert will close with a programatic work first performed by the Brass Choir at the Veteran's Day Concert. It is "The Letter," by current Ithaca College Junior, Andrew Thomson. This work was written for a fallen comrade with whom Thomson served in the Marines and tells the story of hope, loss, and patriotism.

The second half of the program will open with a triple choir work by Gabrieli and move next to a multi-movement piece by Alfred Reed: "Othello - a Symphonic Portrait in Five Scenes for Brass Ensemble after Shakespeare." Each movement of this work depicts a setting or a scene from the Shakespeare drama, full of passion, depth, and rich harmonic vocabulary. The concert will close with a Sousa march, "Semper Fidelis."

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