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

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The final concert of the Cascade Winds 2017-2018 season will take place on Sunday, June 3, 2pm, in the Summit High School Auditorium. Admission is free but donations will gladly be accepted. Additionally, the second annual Cascade Winds silent auction, Experience the Winds, will take place at intermission. Many of the items up for bid are from the musicians themselves, relating to their professions, hobbies and special interests, such as private lessons, wine, woodworking, fishing, et cetera. 

Cascade Winds conductor, Michael Gesme, and the members of the band are pleased to present a variety traditional and non-traditional wind band literature. James Curnow’s “Spirit of the Pioneers,” a lively overture that is, in the words of the composer, “intended to capture the spirit of adventure, commitment to excellence, and drive to succeed that possesses all pioneers in todays’ world of discovery” will launch the performance. Also on the first half will be the sounds of heroic and romantic film music in “Journey to the Lion’s Castle” by Rossano Galante and two classic up tempo marches, “The Klaxon” by Henry Fillmore and Karl King’s “The Melody Shop,” the latter being best characterized as having the silliness and speed of a circus march. The Cascade Winds percussionists will be featured on this concert as they perform an entertaining grove-based work for percussion ensemble by Jim Casella titled “Scuttlebutt.” 

The second half of the concert will be dedicated to a single work: “Symphony No. 1, New Day Rising” by contemporary American composer, Steven Reineke. The four movements of this work collectively recount the events surrounding the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The symphony begins with a glorious picture of a vibrant and colorful San Francisco (pre earthquake) followed by a ‘Nocturne’ that depicts the city on the eve of the infamous quake. The third movement, ‘And the Earth Trembled’ paints a vivid picture of the devastation and destruction wreaked by the tremors and aftershocks. The concluding movement calmly and stately depicts the rebuilding of shattered lives and the restoring of civilization — though ending with a quiet dissonance that signals the danger that still lies below the surface. 

SILENT AUCTION – EXPERIENCE THE WINDS

One hour prior to our concert and during intermission there is a silent auction featuring experiences and items from our very own musicians. The funds raised will be used to offset our concert costs, including theater rental, school staff, and tuition for the musicians. There are many unique items for you to choose from including fishing, hiking, handcrafted items, and even a meal with our conductor, Michael Gesme.

Click here for a copy of the catalog for the auction.

Please join conductor Michael Gesme and the Cascade Winds Symphonic Band on the Summit High School stage, Sunday March 11th, 2018 at 2:00 PM to hear a variety of great music.

Local vocalist extraordinaire Trish Sewell, will join the Winds to sing several jazz standards, including Moon River, and Over the Rainbow, Someone to Watch Over Me, and Star Dust. 

Three marches pepper the program, including the first performance of Perseverance, A Modern Medieval March by Bend composer Chris Redgrave.

The program closes with Symphony No. 3 by Kozhevnikov, a work re-discovered after the lifting of the iron curtain, featuring Russian folk tunes from the city of Novgorod.

Free admission.

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.