Author: NWWS

On Saturday, April 13, the Northwest Wind Symphony brings you “Who We’ve Become,” a concert of distinctly American music.

Our loyal listeners who enjoy marches will be pleased to see not one but two marches on this program, by Sousa and Fillmore. The program also includes American folk music variations by Kallman and Bilik, and a modern take on “America” by Charles Ives. Copland’s “Variations on a Shaker Melody” will have you humming ‘Tis the gift to be simple, ‘tis the gift to be free long after the music ends.

Conductor John Welsh returns to the podium as our guest artist for the evening.

The concert begins at 7:00 p.m. at Corbet Theatre on the Centralia College Campus. General admission tickets are $12 and can be purchased at the door or in advance from Book ‘n’ Brush in Chehalis. Students are free (15 and under must be accompanied by an adult).

The Northwest Wind Symphony kicks off 2019 on Saturday, January 19 with its winter concert, “English Landscapes.” NWWS will present Britain’s rich and vibrant wind band music, from the village community band to miliary marches, as well as Irish and Scottish music reminiscent of bagpipes and dancing jigs.

The evening’s program begins with the music of a relatively young new voice, Kenneth Hesketh, and his celebration of the early English tradition of the masked ball. The program is also stacked with well-loved music by Holst, Grainger, and Vaughan Williams, including “Jupiter” from Holst’s The Planets.

Our guest artist for the evening is Dr. Rob Davis of the Southwest Wind Symphony. As an award-winning horn player, Dr. Davis has toured Europe and performed everything from Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on PBS to Lord of the Rings Online video game music.

The concert begins at 7:00 p.m. at Corbet Theatre on the Centralia College Campus. General admission tickets are $12 and can be purchased at the door or in advance from Book ‘n’ Brush in Chehalis. For more information, visit www.northwestwindsymphony.org.

The Northwest Wind Symphony opens the 2018-2019 season on Saturday, October 20th with a concert titled “What We Cherish: The Four Freedoms.” The evening’s performance will celebrate the freedoms we cherish most as Americans — freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Musical selections include Aaron Copland’s “Rodeo,” Frank Ticheli’s “Amazing Grace,” and John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever.”

The concert begins at 7:00 p.m. at Corbet Theatre on the Centralia College Campus. General admission tickets are $12 and can be purchased at the door or in advance from Book ‘n’ Brush in Chehalis. For more information, visit www.northwestwindsymphony.org

Update: Previously we stated that Dr. Carolyn Vian would be guest conducting. We regret to say she will not be available to join us for this concert.

The Northwest Wind Symphony’s spring concert takes place at Corbet Theatre on April 14, 2018, at 7 p.m. The concert features music by Italian composers like Puccini, Rossini, and Vivaldi. We’re excited to bring Saturday’s audience several excellent guest artists!

The accomplished Angela Gilbert-Ross, W.F. West Director of Choirs, will perform “Si, mi chiamano Mimi” from Puccini’s La Boheme, and “Mattinata” by Ruggero Leoncavallo, the composer of Pagliacci. Larry Gookin, guest conductor, joins Angela for the Puccini, and also brings us Vittorio Giannini’s Symphony #3. Larry is widely respected as a Distinguished Professor and Emeritus Professor of Music at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington.

NWWS also welcomes to the stage Martin Sobelmann from Willamette Falls Symphony to conduct Rossini’s “Prise d’Erivan: Pas Redouble.” Our instrumental soloists for the evening are George Steward and Dane Hurd on piccolo trumpets for Vivaldi’s Concerto in C Major.

Don’t miss this evening of fantastic artistry and beautiful melodies. Tickets are $12 general admission at the door, or in advance from Book ‘n’ Brush in Chehalis. Student tickets are free with a paying adult. For more information, visit www.northwestwindsymphony.org.

The Northwest Wind Symphony launches its 27th season on Saturday, October 21st, with a show entitled “America”.  This season’s performances, under the theme “National Interests”, will feature respectively the music of America, France, and Italy.  “America” will include music by Stamp, Della-Joio, Turrin, Brian Balmages, and Warren Benson.  The evening’s entertainment will also include a favorite Samuel Barber march and a not quite as well known march by John Philip Sousa.

Joining Dr. Dan Schmidt on the podium as guest conductor this evening will be Mike Simpson.  Mike is an active conductor, arranger, clinician, and soloist throughout the Pacific Northwest. He began his training with Wayne Timmerman in the Olympia public schools, and continued his education at the Univ. of Washington where he received a B.A. in Music, a B.A. in Education, and a Masters in Teaching. Mike has been a band director at Renton, Lindbergh, and Kentwood High Schools and just retired after 38 years of teaching. Mike’s accolades include “outstanding secondary teacher” (Renton Schools), “outstanding teacher” (Kentwood High School), and a Grammy Award for his outstanding Music program at Kentwood High School. He has been a regional Horn artist with the Northwest Horn Society, a contributing artist for the International Horn Symposium in Brazil, and won the Jazz Improvisation competition at the international Horn Symposium in Memphis, Tennessee. Mike maintains an active horn studio and conducts the Renton City Concert Band.

Tickets may be purchased for $12 at the door, or in advance from Book ‘n’ Brush in Chehalis. Students are free with paying adult. All concerts begin at 7 pm at the Corbet Theatre on the Centralia College campus. For more information, please visit www.northwestwindsymphony.org.

In this sometimes-turbulent world of social, political, and economic tensions, nations commonly turn inward focusing on their own interests.  When confronted with strife, nations all too often cocoon into a defensive posture and focus on their own agendas–that can be a negative position.

However, an “inward focus” can also be a very good thing:  one that instills in the hearts of citizens those attributes of their society that makes their country unique and colorful!  In music, we simply call this trait “nationalism,” i.e.  when composers focus on folk dances or musical genres that have either emanated from or are associated with their particular culture, e.g. German dances, Polish or Bohemian polkas, American jazz, South and Central American “Latin infused music.”

This season will focus on music from three distinct countries: America, France, and Italy.  As we focus on music that composers from these three countries offer, perhaps we can also appreciate what makes each country wonderfully unique in this world.

On Saturday, April 15, 2017, the Northwest Wind Symphony closes its concert season with a night of orchestral transcriptions.

We’ll perform music originally written for orchestra but later transcribed for wind ensemble. This concert also focuses on the people and institutions who paid for these works to be created. Composers have always relied on a variety of people to support their work — wealthy benefactors, churches, famous soloists, and even anonymous admirers. The price tags may surprise you!

NWWS musician Diana Appler will conduct an orchestral arrangement of her own, and we’ll welcome to the stage world-class trumpet soloist Tristan Hurd. Tristan returns home to Lewis County to share some special moments with audience, friends, and family.

The concert begins at 7pm at Corbet Theatre in Centralia. Tickets are $12 (general admission) and are available at the door or in advance at Book n Brush in Chehalis. Students are admitted free with a paying adult.

The Northwest Wind Symphony kicks off its 26th season on Saturday, October 22, with a concert titled, “Another Opening, Another Show.” Fans of musical theatre will enjoy music from My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof, Camelot, and The Music Man. Also included in the evening’s entertainment are selections from the Gilbert and Sullivan comic ballet Pineapple Poll and Leonard Bernstein’s Candide. Completing the repertoire are Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel and The Sound of Music.

Our guest artist this evening will be Richard Vitzhum, conductor, composer, and violinist. Richard spent the early years of his career in the world of Broadway, touring nationally as a conductor and solo violinist with Fiddler on the Roof, The King and I, and Carousel. Since moving to the northwest, he has performed with Evita and Annie Get Your Gun.

Tickets may be purchased for $12 at the door, or in advance from Book ‘n’ Brush in Chehalis. Students are free with paying adult. All concerts begin at 7pm at Corbet Theatre on the Centralia College campus. For more information, please visit www.northwestwindsymphony.org.

The theme for this year’s season will be Musical Journeys. In October, we begin our journey in New York City, a specific street in NYC in fact:  Broadway, around 42^nd street, the “theater district!”  The music that emanates from this neighborhood has literally defined American Musical Theater.  But this is just the beginning of our journey.

In January, we travel north on Broadway from 42^nd street to the “more established center of great art” that defines NYC: the Metropolitan Opera.  We stay only briefly before we’re off across the Atlantic to theaters in Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Vienna, Dresden, and of course the Beyreuth Festspielhaus.  You see, before there were movies, television, Nintendo, video games, and ipads, there was Opera!

In April, we’ll extend our journey in Europe for a bit longer as we experience wind Transcriptions of some of the world’s greatest music. This music was originally written for strings or other groups, but has now been arranged for wind instrument ensemble. We hope you will join us for this exciting trip!