Gustavus Adolphus College’s Department of Music opens its spring performance season with Home Concerts by three major touring ensembles, the Gustavus Wind Orchestra, the Gustavus Choir and the Gustavus String Orchestra on February 12 and 13. These concerts represent the culmination of concert tours from the east coast to Florida, throughout the Midwest and the Rocky Mountain States. These performances in Christ Chapel are free and open to the public.
The Gustavus Wind Orchestra, under the direction of Douglas Nimmo, opens the weekend with its Home Concert on Saturday, February 12 at 3:30 p.m. in Christ Chapel. The program, which includes a wide variety of literature written or arranged for wind orchestra, includes Roger Nixon’s CALIFORNIA JUBILEE, Edward Elgar’s ENIGMA VARIATIONS, and Malcolm Arnold’s ENGLISH DANCES. The ensemble’s percussion section is featured in Masaru Tanaka’s METHUSELAH II and the brass section in RA!, a new work by David Dzubay, and ends with Paul Creston’s PRELUDE AND DANCE.
The Gustavus Choir follows on Saturday with its Home Concert at 7:30 p.m. in Christ Chapel. The choir, under the direction of Gregory Aune, returns from a 20-day tour which included concerts between Chicago and Boston and then along the coast, concluding with a number of concerts in Florida. The Choir’s program includes works by Mendelssohn, Hutchings, Sweelinck, Nystedt, Messiaen and others. The program features SIMEON’S REVELATION, a work commissioned by the choir for Christmas in Christ Chapel 2004 and written by composer/conductor Kenneth Jennings as well as another commissioned work, MIGHTY RIVER, MIGHTY FIRE, written by Imant Raminsch in 1994.
The Gustavus String Orchestra, featuring the string players from the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Warren Friesen, completes the weekend of Home Concerts on Sunday, February 13 at 3:30 p.m. in Christ Chapel. This concert concludes the ensemble’s tour through Iowa, Nebraska and Colorado. The program opens with Bach’s BRANDENBURG CONCERTO, Popper’s REQUIEM OP. 66, Vivaldi’s CONCERTO IN E MAJOR (SPRING), and continues with works by Moyer, Grieg, Tchaikovsky and Copland.
This weekend’s Home Concerts will be presented in Christ Chapel and are free and open to the public.