Baylor Wind Ensemble to Perform October 1

September 29, 1998

by Richard Veit

The Baylor University Wind Ensemble under the direction of conductor Michael Haithcock, professor of conducting and director of bands, will present its first concert of the 1998-99 academic year at 8 p.m. Thursday in Jones Concert Hall.
The concert will open with a performance of Dmitri Shostakovich's Festive Overture of 1954, which will be heard in Donald Hunsberger's arrangement for winds and percussion. Graduate student Barry Kraus will conduct the William Byrd Suite by Gordon Jacob.
Florent Schmitt's 1913 tone poem, Dionysiaques, which draws its title from Dionysius, the mythological Greek god of fertility will follow Kraus. Though written before the outbreak of World War I, Dionysiaques did not receive its premiere performance until 1925.
Joining the Wind Ensemble for a performance of William Alwyn's Concerto for Flute and Eight Wind Instruments will be Helen Ann Shanley, associate professor of flute at Baylor.
Paul Richards serves as Baylor's lecturer in music composition. His wind piece, Dig, is dedicated to his younger brother, Bill, who is active as a trumpeter and bassist in New Orleans. This will be the world premiere performance of Dig.
The concert concludes with two operatic melodies--Variations on the "Porazzi" Theme of Wagner by Baylor graduate Alfred Reed and the Witches' Dance from Puccini's Le villi.
With two recent compact disc recordings to its credit, the Baylor Wind Ensemble has become recognized nationally as one of this country's finest collegiate performing organizations. The Wind Ensemble has been selected to perform at the state convention of the Texas Music Educators Association in February in San Antonio.
The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, call the School of Music at 710-3991.