NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS

The NIU Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Ronnie Wooten, wraps up their concert season with a concert Thursday, April 19 at 8 p.m. in the Boutell Concert Hall in the Music Building on the main NIU campus, with special guests.

The concert will include the men of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (Epsilon Rho Chapter) on the program in a grand finale performance of Clifton Williams’ well-known work “The Sinfonians”.

Other program selections include:

  • “The Earle of Oxford’s Marche” by William Byrd
  • “Arches” a programmatic work by American composer Dan Welcher which depicts his impressions of Arches National Park in Utah
  • A transcription of Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. , “The Unfinished Symphony”
  • Graduate Student Michael Lockler will be featured as soloist in Antonio Vivaldi’s “Concerto in C Major for Piccolo”
  • Two works by African-American composers Dwayne Milburn and Florence Price:
    • Milburn’s “Meditation, combines a Bach Chorale along with a Negro Spiritual “Poor Wayfarin’ Stranger”
    • Price’s “Three Negro Dances” will also be performed.  Florence Price (1887-1953) worked for many years in Chicago, and had her Symphony in E Minor premiered by the Chicago Symphony in the 1930s. She is widely considered to have been  the leading African-American female composer in the United States during her lifetime. Currently, her music is experiencing a well-deserved revival in the United States and around the world.

The concert is free and open to the public.