University of Wyoming hosts winds festival

Written by Rob Ketcham

Wednesday, 18 February 2009 18:19

The University of Wyoming’s 20^th annual Rocky Mountain Festival of Winds will host nearly 160 high school music students from Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska today through Saturday. The festival is organized and presented by the UW Fine Arts Outreach program.

Dr. Robert Belser, UW conductor and director of bands, said the students representing 23 high schools were chosen from hundreds of applicants.

Once the festival participants arrive, Belser divides them into two jazz ensembles and one large concert band in preparation of a final concert featuring the guest high school artists on Saturday afternoon.

Belser said the weekend will act as a great recruiting tool for the college’s music department, giving the musicians a taste of college life at UW.

“Many of the students who have been here in the past say this festival is the best thing they’ve done, sometimes even better than their all-state experiences,” Belser said. “When they think of us being above that, it really means a lot.”

Registration for festival students will begin today at 3 p.m. in the UW Fine Arts Center lobby.

At 7:30 tonight in the Fine Arts concert hall, the UW Symphonic Band and Wind Symphony will treat festival participants, UW students and the public to a concert. The event is free to attend.

The Symphonic Band, conducted by Christopher Nicholas, will open the concert with the “Gavorkna Fanfare,” a Russian-sounding American piece by Jack Stamp. They will also perform a number of Romanian dances by Bela Bartok before concluding with “Allelujah! Laudamus te,” by Alfred Reed, a famous composer who died in 2005.

Following the Symphonic Band’s performance, Belser will conduct the Wind Symphony, which he described as the best wind and percussion students on campus. After beginning their portion of the concert with a fanfare from a French ballet, the band will jump right into the highlight of the night— “Concerto for Trombone,” by Buxton Orr.

For this piece, the band will be accompanying world-class trombonist John Kenny, who is also an actor, composer and creative artist. After the concert, Belser said he is hopeful that Kenny will play a solo piece on the Carnyx, a Celtic Boar-headed horn. In 1993, Kenny became the first person in modern times to play the unique instrument.

Lastly, Belser will conduct four dances from “West Side Story” before closing the concert with a march by a German composer who was able to escape Nazi Germany.

“No matter whether it’s my Wind Symphony or Chris’ Symphonic Band, I think we’re really giving the audience a wide variety of music,” Belser said.

On top of watching and performing music throughout the weekend, many of the senior high school musicians attending the festival who plan to enroll at UW will have the opportunity to audition for Department of Music talent scholarships.

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