Wind Bands’ Pops Concert Set for Feb. 28
Cal Poly’s Winter Band Concert featuring the 65-member Wind Ensemble and 70-member Wind Orchestra is set for 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28, in Harman Hall of the Performing Arts Center’s Christopher Cohan Center.
This year the bands will present their biennial “pops concert,” featuring entertaining works from all areas of popular culture written and arranged for the modern concert band.
The Wind Orchestra will open the concert with a medley of Broadway show tunes from works such as “Wicked,” “Avenue Q,” “Spamalot,” and “The Lion King.” The group will also perform music from George Gershwin's “An American in Paris” and from the classic Stephen Spielberg movie “Hook,” starring Robin Williams, Julia Roberts, and Dustin Hoffman.
The Wind Orchestra will close its portion of the concert with a suite of symphonic marches by film composer John Williams, including music from the “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “The Empire Strikes Back,” and the fanfare and theme from the 1984 Olympic Games.
The Wind Ensemble will begin the second half of the concert with two original works in a jazz style by Austrian composer Otto Schwarz. The second piece, “Solo Bossa,” will feature senior music major Anthony Pultz on the flugelhorn. The group will also perform selections from Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story,” including the recognizable “Mambo,” “Cha-Cha” and “Finale.”
The group will close the concert with a trip to the movies, featuring music from the movie “Lincoln,” an excerpt from Aaron Copland’s score to “The Red Pony,” and John Williams’ music from “The Cowboys.”
The concert will also feature guest artist and 2012 music alumnus Jonathan Withem, who will perform a work by composer John Mackey titled “Strange Humors” with the Wind Ensemble on the djembe, a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet hand drum originally from West Africa.
Andrew McMahan, Cal Poly director of bands, and Christopher J. Woodruff, associate director of bands, will conduct the concert.
Tickets are $12 and $14 for the public and $9 and $12 for senior citizens and students. Pricing includes all Performing Arts Center fees, and event parking is sponsored by the PAC. Tickets are sold at the Performing Arts Ticket office between noon and 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. To order by phone, call SLO-4TIX (756-4849).
The Music Department offers a 10 percent discount to patrons who buy season tickets to four of its events through the Performing Arts Ticket Office; a 15 percent discount is given on tickets to five or more events.
The Cal Poly Winter Band Concert is sponsored by Cal Poly's College of Liberal Arts, Music Department, and Instructionally Related Activities program. For more information, call the Music Department at 805-756-2406.