News release
Public Information Office
SLU 10880 Hammond,
LA 70402 phone:
985-549-2341 fax:
985-549-2061publicinfo@selu.edu
www.selu.edu/news
Contact: Christina Chapple
Date: 4/25/03
 Click
on image for publication quality photo
SOUTHEASTERN WIND SYMPHONY TO FEATURE WORLD CLASS CLARINETIST HAMMOND -- The Southeastern Louisiana University Wind Symphony will welcome world renowned clarinetist John Bruce Yeh as soloists at its spring concert, "Come, Memory," May 5, at the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts. The free concert will begin at 7:30 p.m.; doors will open at the university’s historic downtown Hammond theater at 6:45 p.m. Conducted by Southeastern music professor and director of bands Glen J. Hemberger, the Wind Symphony is comprised of the university’s most outstanding woodwind, brass, and percussion performers. Yeh, associate principal clarinetist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, will join the Wind Symphony in Carl Maria von Weber's "Concerto No. 2 in E-flat, Op. 74." The Wind Symphony’s program will also include works by Percy Grainger, Eric Whitacre, and Philip Parker, and will feature the dramatic "Gandalf, the Wizard," from Johan de Meij's "Symphony No. 1, The Lord of the Rings." “Celebrating its 15th anniversary, ‘Gandalf’ is characterized by its stunning brass fanfares and brilliant woodwind passages,” Hemberger said. He said the work will be guest conducted by Craig Millet, director of bands at St. Amant High School in Gonzales. Conducted by Southeastern music professor Alissa Mercurio Rowe, director of choral activities, the University Chorus, Northshore Chorale, Concert Choir, and Women's Ensemble will join the Wind Symphony in the North American premiere of Richard Prior's "Hymn for Nations United." Based on a text by W.H. Auden, the work was first performed by the massed band and choir of the Association for Music in International Schools Festival held in The Hague, The Netherlands, in March. Prior, a former member of the Southeastern music faculty, will attend the concert. Rounding out the program will be Donald Grantham's new piece, "Come, Memory." Hemberger said the piece was written to honor “the lives lost, the heroes found, and the enduring spirit of America on the September 11, 2001 attack against the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington D.C.” “The work begins as an elegy for those who lost their lives, and concludes with a hymn for those who remember them,” he said.. Earlier in the day, Yeh will participate in the university’s first Clarinet Symposium, a day-long series of master classes and recitals for high school, college and professional clarinetists at the Columbia Theatre. The symposium, directed by Southeastern music professor Deborah Andrus, will culminate at 6:45 p.m. with a performance by the symposium’s “Clarinet Choir” led by Paul Frechou, director of bands at Mandeville High School. Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Los Angeles, Yeh joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the age of 19. He pursued pre-medical studies at the University of California-Los Angeles before entering the Julliard School of Music in 1975. As director of Chicago's Pro Musica, he received a Grammy Award in 1986 as "Best New Classical Artist." Yeh frequently plays at festivals and on chamber music series worldwide, and has appeared several times with Music from Marlboro, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has performed concertos with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on several occasions, and he continues to solo with bands and orchestras in such diverse locations as Taipei's National Concert Hall and St. Petersburg's Great Philharmonic Hall in Russia. He has been a faculty member at DePaul University for more than 20 years. The Wind Symphony concert is sponsored by the Southeastern College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of Music and Dramatic Arts, and Yamaha Corporation. For additional information, contact Hemberger at 985-549-2599. |
Return to News Releases