The Cascade Winds Symphonic Band will present the first concert of its 2019-2020 season on Sunday, November 24, 2019 at 2:00pm in the Summit High School Auditorium. Admission is free though donations will be accepted. The performance will commence with a fast paced and dramatic work titled “Synergy Rising,” which the composer, Ryan Nowlin, refers to as a work that captures “a myriad of emotions including intense joy and excitement.” The work features the prominent exploits of the percussion section and creative use of the saxophones. (You’ll simply have to come to the concert to find out what that means!) Two non-traditional (non-Sousa) marches will also be heard, the “Little English Girl March” by D. Delle Cese, and Jerry Bilik’s “Block M Concert March,” along with the recently composed and deeply emotional “Until Morning Come” by Andrew Boss. 

“Tanczi” by the noted Belgian composer, conductor and trombone player, Jan Van der Roost, is one of the two large scale works on the concert. Written in the style of traditional Russian folk music, the work expounds on opposites: melancholy versus fiery temperament, virtuosity versus intimate moments, melodic expression versus spicy rhythms. The concluding work is a delightful transcription by Marco Tamanini of George Gershwin’s timeless classic “An American In Paris.” Gershwin himself explains his rhapsodic composition as “the impressions of an American visitor in Paris as he strolls about the city, listens to the various street noises, and absorbs the French atmosphere.” It’s a tour de force for the concert band and will certainly delight listeners of all ages. ​

The opening concert of the Cascade Winds 2018-2019 season will take place on Sunday, November 4, 2pm, in the Summit High School Auditorium. Admission is free but donations will gladly be accepted. The performance will feature several works by contemporary band composers such as Robert Sheldon (“Der Lehrmeister”) and Rossano Galante (“Nostalgia”) as well as foot-tapping marches by Claudio Grafulla (“Washington Grays”) and the march king himself, John Philip Sousa (“King Cotton”). “First Suite in F” by Thom Ritter George as well as “Buckaroo Holiday” and “Hoedown” by Aaron Copland, will lend an air of Americana to the festivities. “First Suite”, commissioned by the United States Navy Band and, as one might expect, is a work filled with allusions to the Navy and the music making of the Navy Band. Listeners will hear the humor and ruggedness of a sea chantey, feel the loneliness and grandeur of the sea, and sense the adventure of Navy men having fun in a South American port of call. The Copland works are drawn from his ballet “Rodeo” and the music is quintessential American cowboy. Pictures are skillfully crafted to musically replicate the events surrounding a rodeo:  perilous bucking broncos, colorful outfits, cheering crowds, an evening hoedown, a first kiss, and unbridled joy.

The featured guest artist on the concert is clarinetist, Ted Burton. Burton has been a staple in the Central Oregon Music scene for more than two decades, serving most recently as the Director of Bands at Mountain View High School until his retirement in 2016. He has been involved in the classical scene, performing in the Central Oregon Symphony and the Cascade Winds, but he has a passion and special love for jazz. He has participated in many jazz ensembles over the years and is one of the founding members of the Summit Express Jazz Band. Tapping into Burton’s rich and deep jazz skill set, conductor Michael Gesme has programmed Artie Shaw’s “Concerto for Clarinet,” a staple in the jazz clarinet repertoire. The work was completed in 1940 and displays the full range of Shaw’s talent and artistry, combining jazz, swing and classical elements – a schmaltzy, smear-filled, improvisational tour de force with wailing and high notes galore

!

Our conductor, Michael Gesme, has programmed a wide range of repertoire for wind ensemble. The fall concert, which falls on Veteran’s Day weekend, has a decidedly Americana theme. Numerous marches and patriotic tunes will pepper the concert, including the “Armed Forces Salute,” during which we will recognize the men and women who have served in the military. Also on this concert are works by several standout contemporary composers, including Brian Balmages, Frank Ticheli and David Maslanka.

Highlights of the winter concert include a major work by Boris Kozhevnikov, a Soviet Era composer whose works came to be known in the west only after the fall of the Berlin Wall and soprano, Trish Sewell, singing jazz standards such as “Moon River”, “Someone to Watch Over Me” and “Star Dust.”

For the season finale, the percussion section will take center stage with a piece all of their own titled “Scuttlebutt” by Jim Casella. Our principal euphonium player, Nathan Bastuscheck will dazzle your ears with the impossibly fast “Melody Shop March” by Karl King, and we’ll conclude with Steven Reineke’s monumental “Symphony No. 1, New Day Rising,” which evokes the spirit of San Francisco before, during and after the great earthquake of 1906.

The Cascade Winds Symphonic Band will present the second concert of the 2016-2017 season on February 26th, 2017 at 2:00 pm in the Summit High School Auditorium. Michael Gesme will lead the ensemble in a wide range of musical fare. The concert will commence with an overture that is based on themes from Offenbach’s opera “Orpheus in the Underworld.” Though the opera may not be familiar, there is little doubt that the music of one of the most famous tunes, in English known as the ‘Can-Can’, will be instantly recognizable. The guest artist for the concert, oboist Mitch Iimori, will perform two works: Marcello’s “Oboe Concerto in C Minor” and a Latin Samba titled “Na Lapa,” arranged by Japanese composer Watanabe. Iimori is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music who makes his home in Portland, OR where he teaches and performs a wide variety of instruments including bassoon, banjo, and erhu. According to conductor Gesme, “Mitch is one of the most talented oboe players I have ever worked with. His sound is simply divine.” The up-tempo “Footlifter March” by Fillmore and the delicate “Intermezzo Sinfonico” from Mascagni’s opera “Cavalleria Rusticana” round out the first half.

The second half will feature a single work: Robert W. Smith’s “Symphony No. 2, The Odyssey.” Based on Homer’s literary epic, the four movements of this work are designed to give the listener a sense of the adventures experienced by Odysseus, the King of Ithaca. We will hear the battle cries of the Trojan War, the songs of the Sirens who lured sailors to their deaths on the rocks, a huge storm and devastating shipwreck caused by an infuriated Poseidon, the calm of the island paradise belonging to Calypso, and Odysseus’ ultimate return to Ithaca and his beloved Penelope. Filled with a huge assortment of unusual percussion instruments, glorious brass fanfares and delightful woodwind filigree, the work is certain to inspire visions of what is often referred to as “the best story ever written.”

The concert is free of charge and tickets are not required. For additional information please contact Michael Gesme at 541-383-7516 or mgesme@cocc.edu.

The Cascade Winds Symphonic Band will present its first concert of the 2016-2017 season on November 13th, 2016 at 2:00 pm in the Summit High School Auditorium. COCC music professor, Michael Gesme, will lead the ensemble in a concert that features a diverse array of wind ensemble classics, marches, and recent compositions. The four compositions on the first half will commence with a work by one of the band world’s foremost living composers, Belgian born, Jan Van der Roost. His Olympica: Festival Overture for Band is a showpiece for the entire band, which, from beginning to end, is a burst of joyous musical color. Drawing on the vivid musical heritage of his Jewish roots, composer Adam Gorb has created a serious tongue-in-cheek composition, Eine Kleine Yiddishe Ragmusik – a curious synthesis of Scott Joplin ragtime and Jewish folk song, subtly conveying the atmosphere of the 1930s Berlin cabaret scene. John Philip Sousa’s tribute to the Royal British Navy in with his Jack Tar March will follow. This rollicking nautical march has a quaint musical surprise in the trio section where the British sea shanty “The Sailor’s Hornpipe” makes a cameo appearance along with ship’s bells and whistles. Rounding out the first half is a work featuring the energetic music of Jerry Bock arranged by Ira Hearshen, the Symphonic Dances from “Fiddler on the Roof.” Highlighted dances include “Tradition,” “The Bottle Dance,” and “To Life.”

After intermission the Cascade Winds will perform Alfred Reed’s A Little Concert Suite for Winds, a brief work with four delightfully contrasting movements: a regal court procession, a hushed and melancholy Siciliana, a bubbling Scherzo and a rollicking and festive Gigue. A trip through Yosemite National Park inspired the next work, Yosemite Autumn by Mark Camphouse. The composition begins and ends with the peace and tranquility that marks sunrise and sunset each day in the park, while the middle is filled with the excitement and variety that is symbolic of the daytime action. The concert concludes with a classic band composition: the American Civil War Fantasy for Band by Jerry H. Bilik. The work is a collection of American folk songs, such as “Dixie,” “Camptown Races,” “The Yellow Rose of Texas” and “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” cleverly woven together to tell the story of the buildup to the Civil War, the war itself and its aftermath. The work is at times, tender, haunting, jaunty, horrific and, ultimately, hopeful.

The concert is free of charge and tickets are not required. For additional information please contact Michael Gesme at 541-383-7516 or mgesme@cocc.edu.