Do you know a young person who would like to learn more about the instruments used in a Symphonic Band? Would they like a “Golden Ticket” to experience music from the inside of a real Symphonic Band? If so, have we got the opportunity for you!

On Thursday, November 21st, starting at 6:00 pm, The Cascade Winds will be hosting their 2nd Annual Instrument Meet and Greet. Musicians from the Cascade Winds will be in the lobby of Wille Hall (inside the Coats Campus Center) on the campus of Central Oregon Community College to demonstrate their instruments to aspiring musicians and curious kids.

If they have a “Golden Ticket”, at 7:00 PM each participant will be placed beside a Cascade Winds musician and experience what it is like to be in the first 30 minutes of a rehearsal with the Winds. Participants will have the opportunity to talk with musicians, hear what it sounds like to be in the middle of the action, and learn about the instruments used to make the music of the Cascade Winds. Adults will have seating in the room to watch.

To get a “Golden Ticket” and participate, Email Cheri Redgrave. This is a free event.

In conjunction with the Instrument Meet and Greet, the Cascade Winds will also be offering the opportunity for student musicians to schedule private lessons with Winds Players for the low price of $40 for a one hour lesson, with all proceeds going to fund the Winds.

In conjunction with the three Cascade Winds Concerts this season, we will be selling raffle tickets for a beautiful doll house made by one of our musicians, Erik Hoagland.

This gem of a doll house will be on display at our concerts and a representative of the Cascade winds will be selling raffle tickets for $5 each or 3 for $10. A winner will be drawn after our May 31st 2020 concert. The winner will be contacted after the drawing. (Note if the winner can not be contacted after one week, an additional drawing will be held, until a winner comes forward to collect the doll house).

The Cascade Winds would like to thank everyone who participated in the 2019 “Experience the Winds” silent auction. The proceeds will be used by the Cascade Winds Symphonic Band Association to defray the costs of providing high quality symphonic band music for Central Oregon.

There were a few items that did not find a home at the conclusion of the auction so we are conducting a “Second Chance” sale shortly to make sure everyone has a chance to participate. Click here to see the items. Please email us at cheri.redgrave@yahoo.com to arrange purchase of these items. First come, first served until they are gone.

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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