Lyceum Series to Feature Wind Ensemble Concert

April 27, 2010

Follow us on Twitter: @BaylorUMediaCom
Allan McMurray, the Robert and Judy Charles Endowed Professor of Music, chair of the conducting faculty and director of bands at the University of Colorado at Boulder, will be the guest conductor for the Baylor University Wind Ensemble at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 30, in Jones Concert Hall at the Glennis McCrary Music Building on the Baylor campus.
The event, which is free and open to the public, is part of The Lyceum Series, hosted by Baylor's School of Music. The series was founded in 1976 and has been funded by the Meadows Foundation of Dallas since 1980.
The 69-member Baylor Wind Ensemble is led by J. Eric Wilson, director of bands at Baylor. Wilson will open the concert with Lollapalooza by American composer John Adams and will finish the concert with American composer John Mackey's Redline Tango.
McMurray will conduct two pieces, including Serenade for Winds by American composer Carter Pann and Igor Stravinsky's Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments. The soloist for the Stravinsky piece will be Vincent de Vries, assistant professor of music at Baylor.
From McMurray's research interests, including conducting pedagogy and wind repertoire, he has traveled to 45 states and 15 foreign countries as a guest conductor, lecturer and clinician. He is the host for the College Band Directors National Association National Conducting Symposium in Boulder and is a member of the American Bandmasters Association.
McMurray is the recipient of the Bohumil Makovsky Award for Outstanding College Band Directors from the national band fraternity, Kappa Kappa Psi, and has been recognized by California State University Long Beach as "Distinguished Artist in Classical Music."
For more information about the Lyceum Concert Series, call the Baylor School of Music at (254) 710-3991.
by Lillyan Baker, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805