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5-12-08

Media Release

OSU’s Wind Ensemble to Perform at Carnegie Hall

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State University Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Christopher Chapman, will perform at prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York on June 1.

This performance is the first time in the band program’s 118-year history that an OSU ensemble has performed at Carnegie Hall, according to sources in OSU’s Department of Music.

The 8:30 p.m. concert on the Perelman Stage of the Stern Auditorium is part of the Excellence in Education Series, presented by

Distinguished Concerts International of New York. Also performing will be the University of North Florida Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Gordon Brock.

OSU’s program at Carnegie Hall will feature the music of Northwest composers, and begin with Chapman at the baton, opening with a trumpet fanfare and “Ra!” by David Dzubay. A Portland native, Dzubay is a professor of music at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind.

That piece will be followed with “Three Vespers” by Sergei Rachmaninoff, arranged by Timothy O. Salzman, the director of bands at the University of Washington.

Next will be the premiere of a commissioned piece, “Concerto for Percussion and Wind Ensemble ‘The Five Changes’” by Gregory Youtz, a University of Washington graduate and professor of music at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash. This work will feature OSU’s Robert Brudvig, director of percussion studies.

Brad Townsend, director of athletic bands will step in as conductor for “Wake Me Up for the Great Jubilee,” set by longtime University of Washington professor George McKay.

Chapman will return to conduct another premiere, “Gusto El Sabor,” by OSU music professor Michael Coolen, and conclude the concert with “Give Us This Day II,” by David Maslanka, a composer from Missoula, Mont.

The long-running band program at OSU began in 1891 with the appearance on campus of a small military band. That ensemble was also the first campus band among contemporary Pacific-10 Conference schools to produce a recording.

“The continuity and growth of the band program at OSU from a small campus military band formed 117 years ago to a substantial wind ensemble of elite players performing in the country’s premier concert hall, says a lot about the success of, and support for bands at Oregon State,” Chapman said.

Chapman is director of bands in the OSU Department of Music, where he conducts the Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble and teaches courses in music education and graduate and undergraduate instrumental conducting.

The OSU Wind Ensemble is an auditioned ensemble of students from a variety of major disciplines from throughout the campus. Auditions are held in the fall with rehearsals running twice a week for the entire year. Most performances take place in Austin Auditorium at the LaSells Stewart Center on the OSU campus.

OSU Bands’ tour to New York will also include a May 31 performance by the OSU Marching Band in Herald Square in the heart of Manhattan. The OSU Marching Band includes many students who perform in the Wind Ensemble.

The Wind Ensemble will give a preview performance of their Carnegie Hall program as part of the OSU Bands Spring Concert on Tuesday, May 13, at 7:30 p.m. in LaSells Stewart Center. Admission is $10 at the door, with all proceeds going to help fund the New York tour. Also on that program will be a performance by the OSU Concert Band.

For more information, go to http://osumb.oregonstate.edu/newyork/index.html

About the OSU College of Liberal Arts: The College of Liberal Arts includes the fine and performing arts, humanities and social sciences, making it one of the largest and most diverse colleges at OSU. The college's research and instructional faculty members contribute to the education of all university students and provide national and international leadership, creativity and scholarship in their academic disciplines.