Wind Orchestra Preparing for Florida Tour

The Gustavus Wind Orchestra, conducted by Dr. Douglas Nimmo, is currently preparing to embark on a week-long tour of Florida April 1-8.

The entire concert schedule for the upcoming tour is as follows:

• Sunday, April 1 / Lutheran Church of the Cross / St. Petersburg, Fla. / 9 & 10:45 a.m. worship services
• Sunday, April 1 / Lutheran Church of the Cross / St. Petersburg, Fla. / 4 p.m.
• Monday, April 2 / Emmanuel Lutheran Church / Venice, Fla. / 7 p.m.
• Tuesday, April 3 / Emmanuel Lutheran Church / Naples, Fla. / 7 p.m.
• Thursday, April 5 / North Lake Presbyterian Church / Lady Lake, Fla. / 7 p.m.
• Saturday, April 7 / Community Church of Vero Beach / Vero Beach, Fla. / 7 p.m.
• Sunday, April 8 / Community Church of Vero Beach / Vero Beach, Fla. / 8, 9:30 & 11:15 a.m. Easter worship services

The Gustavus Wind Orchestra will present its home concert at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, April 14 in Christ Chapel. The concert is free and open to the public.

The Gustavus Wind Orchestra, the oldest music ensemble at Gustavus, descends directly from the College’s first student instrumental ensemble formed in 1878, soon after the St. Peter community organized a musical society to secure band instruments for the College. From that beginning more than 130 years ago, the wind orchestra has grown to earn international acclaim through its concerts and tours.

The ensemble has toured extensively in the United States and Canada as well as parts of Scandinavia and Europe. In 1990, it was invited as the first American ensemble to present a concert in East Berlin, following the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989. In 1994, the ensemble returned to east-central Europe to perform for standing-room-only audiences in Poland, the Czech and Slovak republics, Hungary, Austria, and Germany. The ensemble returned to the area more recently in 2006 and 2010.

Conductor Douglas Nimmo has served as conductor of the Gustavus Wind Orchestra since 1987. In addition to his work with the wind orchestra, he teaches instrumental conducting and instrumental methods, and supervises student teachers. Under his leadership, the ensemble has commissioned new works by composers David Holsinger, Thomas Root, David Gillingham, Csaba Deak, Steve Heitzeg, Steve Wright, and James Stephenson.  Nimmo is also a past recipient of the College’s Edgar M. Carlson Award for Distinguished Teaching.

For more information about the Gustavus Wind Orchestra and its upcoming tour, go online to gustavus.edu/music/winds/gwo or contact Lisa Westphal, Manager of Music Tours, at 507-933-7163 or lwestph2@gustavus.edu.