• Rhode Island College /
• RIC News /
• RIC Wind Ensemble to play the American tapestry of music March 4

RIC Wind Ensemble to play the American tapestry of music March 4

The RIC Wind Ensemble will take the stage for its first concert of the semester, “American Tapestry” on Friday, March 4, at 8 p.m. in the Nazarian Center’s Sapinsley Hall.

The concert features performances by Judith Lynn Stillman, RIC artist in residence and Jamie Taylor, RIC professor of theatre.

“The tapestry of American classical music includes diverse European influences to be sure, but it also incorporates threads from Africa, Asia, Native Americans and many popular influences,” said Robert Franzblau, conductor of the RIC Wind Ensemble. “This concert showcases the rich variety that can be found in the American tapestry of music for winds and percussion, and by extension, the remarkably heterogeneous nation in which we live.”

The program includes contemporary American classics composed by Aaron Copland, Charles Ives, Donald Grantham, Paul Hindemith, Louis Moreau Gottschalk and Leonard Bernstein.

Stillman, a virtuoso pianist and composer, will join the Wind Ensemble in playing an arrangement of Gottschalk’s “The Union, Opus 48.” The composition was written as a “battle piece” for piano solo, which incorporates an elaborate arrangement of the “Star-Spangled Banner” set against a prelude of dramatic conflict.

Jamie Taylor, a director, dramaturg and playwright, will narrate Copland's “A Lincoln Portrait.” Describing the composition, Franzblau said, “The words are for the most part set against a quiet, unobtrusive orchestral backdrop with occasional, more prominent punctuations and responses from the ensemble. The work climaxes with a quotation from the Gettysburg Address.”

“It’s an honor to share the stage with not one, but two of my colleagues from the Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance,” said Franzblau, “Judy Stillman and Jamie Taylor are extremely talented people.”

Tickets for the concert, American Tapestry, are $10. Discounts are available for seniors, children and RIC faculty/staff/students/alumni. Purchase tickets in advance with Visa, MasterCard or Discover by calling (401) 456-8144 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays; or in person at the Nazarian Center Box Office in Roberts Hall. The Box Office is also open for sales two hours prior to performance start time in the appropriate show venue.

---