The Eastern Shore Wind Ensemble, the community concert band based in Chestertown, will open its 2013-2014 season of four free concerts on Sunday, November 3, with a program to delight listeners of all ages. Beginning at 4:00 p.m. at Emmanuel Church, Cross and High streets, Chestertown, the program theme of “Musical Mischief” emphasizes aural effects, some of them quite unconventional in concert music.
Frank Erickson’s 1994 “March of the Mimes” is a light-hearted concert march written in traditional march form, but in a style far from traditional due to his chromatic and shifting harmonies, contrasting dynamics, and odd-measure phrases.
Englishman Gordon Jacob’s “The Barber of Seville Goes to the Devil,” composed in 1960 for a BBC Concert Orchestra broadcast, is an imaginative, rambunctious parody of Rossini’s well-known overture to the comic opera “Barber of Seville.”
Written in an appealing tango style, Ed Huckeby’s “Tool Time Tango” (2005) draws upon common household tools to emphasize the piece’s bold rhythms.
Listeners who remember Lawrence Welk and Guy Lombardo will be especially entertained by a 1968 take-off entitled “Lawrence Milk Plays Guy Lombago.”
Robert W. Smith’s “The Maelstrom” will give listeners a sense of being drawn into a frightening whirlpool, or vortex, of enormous size and intensity, while Rob Romeyn’s dramatic and powerful “Apollo: Myth and Legend” will engage listeners in the tale of the epic mythological hero, the most widely worshipped Greek god.
The music of Leroy Anderson, a celebrated composer and arranger for the Boston Pops under Arthur Fiedler, is always infectious and compelling, but this is especially true of his 1954 piece “The Typewriter,” which celebrates the ubiquitous manual typewriter of yesteryear and its unique sounds.
Also, a brass quartet (Ray Diedrichs and Joe Diamond, trumpet; Dave Knutson and Jim Pileggi, trombone) will play a Renaissance-era fanfare and the radically contrasting “Lassus Trombone,” probably the best-known and audience-pleasing “trombone smear” of the many written by Henry Fillmore nearly a century ago.
Dr. Keith Wharton has been the musical director of the band since its founding in 2001. The band always welcomes new members of all ages to join, without audition or fee. For more information, call 410-778-2829 or 410-810-1834. The band is partially supported by a grant from the Kent County Arts Council.
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.