For musicians, evoking emotions and inspiring imagery in an audience through music alone is a powerful dream. The University’s Wind Ensemble set out to achieve this with their recent performance.
On Nov. 7 at 7 p.m., a cello and various other instruments resonated through the Scheidt Family Performing Arts Center as guests entered the auditorium and took their seats, listening to the musicians warm up.
As the lights dimmed, silence fell, and the Wind Ensemble introduced their conductor.
Albert Nguyen, director of the wind ensemble and lead conductor, had a singular goal for the evening: to provide an uplifting, relaxing experience for the audience.
“For most of the concerts I do, I hope to take the audience away from their lives and insert them into something different,” said Nguyen.
Nguyen also focused on interpreting the composers’ intentions with great fidelity.
“We spend a lot of time trying to understand what the composer wants, their intentions, and their feelings because we are the only way they get to communicate,” Nguyen said.
Nguyen offered opening remarks on the concert’s theme.
“This concert is based on the concept of looking up for things or looking up at things for inspiration,” Nguyen said.
Nguyen then introduced the first piece, Rivers of Air by Jake Runestad, which was intended to evoke imagery of clouds and mountains. Graduate conducting student Erin Duke conducted the ensemble in this piece.
Following the first piece, Nguyen returned to the stage to introduce The High Songs by Carter Pann.
“I am very excited about this next piece. The idea of bringing a cello into this ensemble is something I find unique,” Nguyen said.
Nguyen explained how Dr. Kimberly Patterson, the cellist, would stretch the cello’s range in innovative ways, noting that the ensemble would only play the first two movements. He described the first movement as hypnotic and the second as a fusion of jazz band and ensemble with a cello soloist. Patterson then joined the ensemble on stage.
As the second piece concluded, Nguyen took the microphone to announce the third piece, Mountain Like Photograph by Zack Stanton.
“I think we’ve all been to this place: you find one photo, maybe from a vacation with friends, and it instantly brings you back to the time, the smell, and the feelings you had back then,” Nguyen said.
He shared that Stanton had composed this piece after finding a photograph of a memorable hike with friends, some of whom were no longer with him. Graduate conducting student Jean Pierre Mora then took the stage to lead the ensemble in this piece.
Finally, Nguyen introduced the evening’s last piece, Symphony No. 2 by Frank Ticheli.
“If you come to band concerts, it’s very likely you’ve heard Frank Ticheli. He’s been tremendously prolific, and I’d argue he’s one of the most important composers in band music today,” Nguyen said.
He explained that Ticheli’s symphonies aren’t often performed and that they would close the night with this particular work, which includes three movements.
After the concert, Nguyen reflected on the performance.
“I was feeling deeply the music and the emotions inside it, and I was also feeling the players’ energy due to how we have a very close relationship—and the audience’s energy really spiked us up,” Nguyen said.
