SDSU Wind Symphony opens season Thursday

The South Dakota State University Wind Symphony opens its 2023-2024 season this week with a performance that celebrates music from both the 1920s and 2020s.

The concert, "ROARING: A Celebration of the ’20s," will take place in Larson Memorial Concert Hall at the Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19. This performance features pieces that are exuberant in spirit and laced with jazz and popular music idioms.

“From the 1920s, we’re performing two iconic works for stage bands of the era: Kurt Weill’s ‘Little Threepenny Music’ and George Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue,’” said Jacob Wallace, director of concert bands at SDSU. “I’m blessed to be able to collaborate with brilliant faculty artists in the School of Performing Arts, and on this concert, we’re elated to feature Mark Stevens, assistant professor of piano, as the featured soloist on ‘Rhapsody in Blue.’”

The second half of the program features two relatively new works for concert band.

“Haley Woodrow’s ‘For Old Times’ Sake’ is a piece that was written for the Canton High School Band, and its local connection made it a perfect inclusion on the program,” Wallace said. “We’re very happy to welcome Kristen Dunlap, director of bands at Canton High School, to conduct the work she helped to create. Following the Woodrow piece, we’ll perform a premiere of Kevin Day’s virtuosic ‘Concerto for Wind Ensemble.’ We were among the ensembles that commissioned this incredibly important new addition to the repertoire, and we’re excited to present our premiere performance.”

This concert, presented by the SDSU School of Performing Arts, is free and open to the public. Those unable to attend in person can watch a livestream on the Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center’s Facebook page. Contact the School of Performing Arts at 605-688-5187 for more information.