Wind Ensemble Presents Concert on October 14

by Richard Veit

The Baylor University Wind Ensemble will perform its second concert of the 1999-2000 season at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 14, in Jones Concert Hall. The Wind Ensemble is conducted by Michael Haithcock, professor of conducting and director of bands. Also taking part will be soprano Lynda Keith McKnight, assistant professor of vocal studies, and graduate student conductor Courtney Snyder.
Opening the program will be Spanish composer Joaquín Turina's symphonic poem La Procesión del Rocío, which dates from the year 1913. It will be heard in an arrangement for wind band by Baylor graduate Alfred Reed.
Next will come Darius Milhaud's La Création du Monde. Premiered in Paris in 1923, this rhythmically engaging ballet was inspired by both American jazz and African folklore.
The Wind Ensemble will then present two operatic prayers, both sung by McKnight. "Elisabeth's Prayer" appears in Act III of Richard Wagner's 1845 opera Tannhäuser. "Mona's Prayer" is heard in the second act of Daron Hagen's opera Bandanna, which Haithcock conducted at its world premiere in February. "Mona's Prayer" will be preceded by a prelude, written for the concert hall, that incorporates some vocal themes from the opera.
Another piece by Daron Hagen will follow. The Bandanna Overture borrows thematic material from the opera, but it was composed for concert audiences and is not heard in opera houses.
Concluding the program will be two compositions by America's "March King," John Philip Sousa. Easter Monday on the White House Lawn was written in 1928 and The Glory of the Yankee Navy in 1909.
This Wind Ensemble concert is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Baylor School of Music at 710-3991.