The Symphonic Band To Perform October 16

by Richard Veit

The Baylor University Symphonic Band will present a concert at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16, in Jones Concert Hall in the Glennis McCrary Music Building. The concert will be led by the ensemble's conductor, Matthew O. Smith, with a special guest appearance by Jeffrey Grogan, assistant professor and associate director of bands.
Opening the concert will be No Strings by Frank La Rocca followed by "Blessed Are They," an arrangement by Barbara Buehlman of the first movement of the German Requiem by Johannes Brahms.
Next, Gustav Holst's Second Suite for Military Band dates from 1911. It is in four movements: "March," "I'll Love My Love," "Song of the Blacksmith" and "Fantasia on the 'Dargason'."
Following intermission, the 56-member Symphonic Band will return to the stage for a performance of William Schuman's Chester Overture in its original scoring for orchestra.
Songs Without Words by Dan Welcher, a former composer-in-residence of the Austin Symphony Orchestra, is structured in five descriptive movements, "Manic," "Reflective," "Giddy," "Stunned" and "Confident" will be heard.
Concluding the program will be Samuel Barber's Commando March, a wartime composition that was premiered in Atlantic City in 1943.
This concert is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Baylor School of Music at 710-3991.