Cascade Winds Symphonic Band: Fall Concert

Posted on 11/18/07

The Cascade Winds Symphonic Band will present the first concerts of its 2007-08 season on December 2 and 3. The Sunday concert will begin at 2:00 p.m. and the Monday performance at 7:30 p.m., both at the Summit High School venue. The concerts are free of charge, although donations are gratefully accepted.

The Cascade Winds Symphonic Band is a 60-piece community concert band based in Bend that serves the entire Central Oregon region. The group is comprised of a wide range of volunteer musicians including accomplished high school students, area music teachers, adult amateur musicians and retired professionals. This season artistic director Michael Gesme and the Cascade Winds have arranged for three exciting guest conductors to lead the group in its concert series.

Dave Sime, conductor for the December concert series, is currently in his nineteenth year as director of bands at Redmond High School. During his tenure at Redmond, the band program has grown from one band of 38 students to three bands with 150 students. Redmond bands have qualified for the Oregon State Band Contest twelve of the past thirteen years and have performed throughout the West Coast and Canada. Sime earned a Bachelor of Music Education from Willamette University, and has done post-graduate work at the University of Oregon. As a performer, he regularly plays trumpet with several groups in Central Oregon including the COCC Big Band Jazz.

Sime's musical selections for this first concert represent a collection of musical wildflowers, beginning with "Lincolnshire Posy", a collection of folksongs conceived and scored for band by Percy Aldridge Grainger in 1937. "The Hounds of Spring" by Alfred Reed, is based upon a poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne. Reed captures the twin elements of the poem, and paints a picture of youthful happiness along with the sweetness of tender love. "Symphonic Dance No. 3", subtitled "Fiesta", by Clifton Williams, describes a lively party and ensuing siesta. At times, a listener can also imagine being surrounded by all the festivities of a bullfight.

Eric Whitacre's "October" uses simple, pastoral melodies so that the listener can almost feel the crisp autumn air and see the leaves change color. In "Fantasy on a Japanese Folksong", by Samuel Hazo, the flutes produce a haunting oriental musical flavor. Also, the band will play a wonderful wind ensemble adaptation of the overture to Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro." And, of course, every band concert needs a march, or two, to be complete and this concert includes "Americans We" by Henry Fillmore and "Valdres", a Norwegian national march written by Johannes Hanssen.

"Heroes, Lost and Fallen" is a powerful tribute to those who fought in the Vietnam War. In this work, there are moments of calm, alluding to the world ideal of peace and serenity. There are also sections that portray the war itself with driving rhythms and intense sounds. Be sure to listen to the short quotes of the "Star Spangled Banner", "Taps", and the "Vietnamese National Anthem". It is an intriguing piece that ultimately reminds us all that the threat of war will always be present.

These concerts are free, open to the public and suitable for all ages. For more information, contact Jan Tuckerman, 541-593-1635.