By Joseph Knoop
The Indiana Wind Symphony has announced its 2014-15 season concert schedule and it will feature the works of a wide variety of composers and performers.
The Indiana Wind Symphony will perform “Bicentennials – The Star Spangled Banner and the Saxophone,” on Sept. 27, with saxophone virtuoso Kenneth Tse.
“I’m really excited to have Tse as the soloist,” said Charles Conrad, director of the Indiana Wind Symphony. “I think he’s one of the really brilliant wind players in the world.”
The show will be a tribute of sorts in celebration of Adolph Sax, inventor of the saxophone. The performance will also feature the works of John Philip Sousa and Frank Ticheli.
Pianist Kelleen Strutz will join the symphony for a performance dedicated to heroism on Nov. 15, featuring John Williams’ “Summon the Heroes,” and Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor.”
Williams wrote and conducted the Oscar-winning score to “Star Wars.”
The holidays won’t want for music, either. Soprano Jessamyn Anderson, along with Santa and Mrs. Clause will join the symphony for renditions of “O Holy Night” and “A Christmas Festival” on Dec. 6.
Fans of witches, wizards, fantasy and Broadway will be treated to the songs of “Wicked,” John’s William’s “Harry Potter” suite, and “The Lord of the Rings” on Feb. 21, 2015.
Classic hymns, such as “Kentucky Harmony,” “Power and Glory,” and “Finlandia” will be reworked into concert pieces by the symphony on March 28, 2015.
The symphony’s final performance, featuring a tribute to brass instruments alongside soloists James Beckel and Julie Beckel opens May 17, 2015. Jame’s Beckel’s own “The Glass Bead Game,” based on the novel of the same title, and Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man.”
Season tickets for all performances go on sale July 1, with discounted prices for groups of 12 or more.
With the new schedule, the symphony enters its 16th season, this year under the direction of Conrad.
For more information, call 843-3800 or visit www.thecenterpresents.org.
