Busy times....

Sometimes it seems like months (or at least weeks) may pass between gigs and then everything hits at once.  Such has been the case of late with this erstwhile, freelance conductor.

May 10:  Quad City Wind Ensemble concert at St. Ambrose in Davenport:

• Smith/Jack Stamp: Star Spangled Banner (the most beautiful setting ever of what should be considered our nation's hymn.
• Thomas Knox: American Pageant.  The patriotic medley to end them all.  Written for the Marine Band, therefore it is a tour-de-force.
• Morten Lauridsen:  O Magnum Mysterium.  The composer's stunning setting of the ancient text, arranged by his colleague, H. Robert Reynolds.
• Ralph Vaughan Williams:  Sea Songs.  A classic.  Need one say more?
• Satoshi Yagisawa:  Machu Picchu--City in the Sky.  This piece defies description; it needs to be experienced.
• Paul Hindemith/Wilson:  "March" from the Symphonic Metamorphosis.  Works a helluva lot better with a band.
• Mark Camphouse:  Yosemite Autumn, captures all the grandeur that is that magical place.
• Wolfie Mozart:  the first movement (Allegro) of the Bassoon Concerto, performed by the amazing winner of our concerto competition, Gabrielle Hartman, a 14-year-old from Muscatine.
• Julie Giroux:  Vigils Keep.  Something about this piece keeps bringing me back to it.

To me, concerts are a bittersweet moment.  While we have the opportunity to experience the culmination of our process with an audience, the event itself signifies that we're finished with this set of music and preparing for another.  Such was not the case this time, as we performed much the same music at the Iowa Bandmasters Conference on May 15 in Des Moines.

Minus the SSB and Vigils Keep (a difficult decision), the program was the same, albeit in a slightly different order.  We opened the program with Machu Picchu, a performance which one audience member described as "balls to the wall."  And how could I possibly forget our encore performance at both concerts?  Karl King's Barnum and Bailey's Favorite.  The commentary on this one?  "I've never really like a Karl King march until I heard your performance?"  Can't beat that.

A late Thursday (arriving home after midnight) and a long Friday (commencement at UW-Madison--I'm now a Doc) and I'm still tired.  But the Tri-State Wind Symphony starts rehearsing tonight.  There is little time to rest.  I probably wouldn't have it any other way.

Here's a little something of our own from the IBA concert.  And why not this one as well?