Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE - On April 24, University of Wisconsin-Platteville's Wind and Jazz I Ensembles will join together to perform for the public. The concert will begin at 3 p.m. in the Brodbeck Concert Hall in the Center for the Arts, located on the UW-Platteville campus.

The concert will be the climax of the wind and jazz ensembles' annual Spring Tour Concert. Directors Barry Ellis and Joe Caploe will be conducting UWP's Symphony Wind Ensemble and Jazz I Ensemble respectively, with Matt Gregg stepping in to conduct a piece for wind ensemble.

The ensembles will be heading to five different high schools: Potosi, Westby, La Crosse Central, Dubuque Senior and Hempstead. For the first time, each high school band director will be directing a piece for the concert, something Ellis hopes will carry over to other tours. The ensembles will stay overnight in La Crosse, and return to Platteville the next afternoon. Their finale will begin on Sunday, when they perform at UW-Platteville.

As a tribute to Frederick Fennell, one of the pieces that will be played is "National Emblem," a work that uses bits and pieces of the "Star-Spangled Banner" in its melodies. Composed by Edwin Eugene Bagley, this is one of Fennell's favorite works. Fennell, who founded and conducted the Eastman Wind Ensemble, spent three days at UWP in 2003 as part of the Percussive Art Society Convention, where he held a clinic and did some conducting. "He changed the way we look at bands," exclaims Ellis. Now, instead, of having an enormous band made up of 100 or so individuals, many bands are instead starting to specialize, performing in groups of around 40.

Heather Mallory, oboist, will be performing her own solo in "El Bosque Magico," which means "The Enchanted Forest." Mallory is an oboe professor at UWP, and also performs in the Dubuque Symphony as Principal Oboe. She has performed in music festivals in Aspen, Maine, Quebec and Austria.

The symphonic wind ensemble will finish their portion of the concert with "Ride," a wild three-and-a-half minute piece by Samuel R. Hazo. Then, Jazz I will pick up with several songs of their own, including "Shining Star," "Haitian Fight Song," "Blue in Green" and two pieces by Caploe himself: "Parallel Dreams" and "Corridors." "We've got a nice eclectic program of music planned that will appeal to a large, diverse group of people," says Ellis. "We've got quite a varied program, there's a little bit of something for everyone." The concert swings from a bit of Greek-based symphony music to a traditional band march, in addition to blues and jazz. This concert will be free and open to the public

Contact: Barry Ellis, director of bands, (608) 342-1017, ellisb@uwplatt.edu Prepared by: Kym Bliven, Public Relations, (608) 342-1194,blivenk@uwplatt.edu