Stephen Pratt: I'm Stephen Pratt, Music Director and conductor of the Southern Indiana Wind Ensemble, currently. And I'm really pleased to let people know that we have a concert upcoming that should be special. It's called Music from America: New World Dimensions. All of the repertoire that the group is performing is produced from American composers, American arrangers, and also many times about American themes. And one of the things that we're really pleased to do is the Olympic Fanfare and Theme by John Williams. Now, everyone knows the music of John Williams. It's great. And I remember that for that 1984 Olympics, they invited collegiate students from across the country to Los Angeles to perform in a large brass ensemble that played this particular fanfare, and we had several students from the School of Music here at Indiana University who participated in that. So there's a connection there. Then another piece we're doing is called American Overture for band. It's by Joseph Wilcox Jenkins. It was written for the United States Army Field Band, which is a professional group that tours the country. And so he wanted to make it the kind of piece that that group could take on the road. And it's not easy, because it's written for the U.S. Army Field Band. But it's a wonderful piece, very perky, and filled with excitement, and lots of memorable themes. I'm really pleased to be doing it. The last time I conducted it was actually with the U.S. Army Field Band when they were on tour, and so I had an opportunity to do that piece with them, which was very exciting. Next, we'll be doing a piece that certainly has had a lot of play here in Bloomington recently, because it's the suite from Candide, which, of course, was done by the Opera Theater here at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music for the last couple of weekends. We're also playing a piece by John Mackey, who's known for writing exciting, technical, fast, loud pieces. So we're not doing one of those. [laughs]
Aaron Cain: [laughs]
Stephen Pratt: We're doing one of his soft pieces called Sheltering Sky. And it's just gorgeous. A beautiful short piece. And it has reminiscences of American folk songs, even though it's all very original music, and even allusions to a couple of other pieces that we'll be doing later in the program. So it works beautifully. Next, we're doing a piece by a French composer.
Aaron Cain: Ah, so this is the one non-American composer…
Stephen Pratt: …this is the one…
Aaron Cain: …but it’s an American arranger.
Stephen Pratt: That's right. This was a piece by Albert Lavignac from a piano piece. It was actually for eight hands, one piano.
Aaron Cain: Woah.
Stephen Pratt: Now, immediately you can see it would take a longer piano bench, but it's a delightful piece that's very, very difficult for pianists. I think it works wonderfully as a transcription. And Sean Phelan, who was one of our Master of Music wind conducting graduates from the Jacobs School—one of my former students—recently did this transcription. Then we’ll follow with one of those pieces that John Mackey was alluding to: Frank Ticheli’s gorgeous setting of Shenandoah, one of the most wonderful American folk song tunes. And of course, Frank Ticheli not only does a wonderful setting, but he also incorporates several other tunes of American origin, which people will immediately recognize and be thrilled to hear. We're also going to be doing the Symphony #2 finale by Howard Hanson, first director of the Eastman School of Music, very famous educator, but also a wonderful composer, and one of the most prominent composers in America during his lifetime. And W. Francis McBeth was one of his Eastman Students, a composer in his own right who is very good, with loving care transcribed it for winds and it works just beautifully. And, of course, we cannot have an American themed concert without the composer who during his lifetime was the most famous American composer and one of the most, if not the most famous performers and conductors in the world at the time: John Philip Sousa. He was well known in Europe. He had lunch with the King of England and he was welcomed with his touring professional band all over the world. But, of course, what is he known for? He's known for his wonderful marches. But, he was well known for operettas at the time that he was busy composing. And he had an occasion where he needed a march rather quickly, and so he thought, “well, let me take one of my most popular operettas entitled El Capitan, and take some of the themes, put it together,” and, lo and behold, a wonderful March. El Capitan March by John Philip Sousa, which is a treasure of the repertoire. We're really hoping that people will be inspired to come and attend this potentially wonderful concert, filled with good music played by really good players. Bloomington is an amazing magnet of a place. Because there are people who are just really good, who want to continue playing. And so, the Southern Indiana Wind Ensemble is a place where those people can invest their talents. And when you bring those kinds of musicians together, very special things happen.
Aaron Cain: Stephen Pratt, thank you so much for letting us know about this concert. And thank you for speaking with me today.
Stephen Pratt: Absolutely.
Aaron Cain: The Southern Indiana Wind Ensemble, conducted by Stephen Pratt, is presenting their Spring Concert, Music from America: New World Dimensions, Wednesday, May 3rd at 7:00 PM in the Bloomington High School North Auditorium. More information at siwemusic.com. For WFIU Arts, I'm Aaron Cain.
