Following up on success is often hard to do; for the U.Va. Wind Ensemble and director William Pease, however, success is a constant.
"What's amazing about this [performance] is the amount of time rehearsing we put in before the semester started," Pease said. "We only meet twice a week for an hour and a half and to put this difficult music together in such a short amount of time with non-music majors is quite impressive."
With their first concert of the spring semester approaching, the 45-member group, comprised mostly of non-music majors, has put together a performance that combines prominent guest performers and a variety of band pieces.
The February performance will consist of four pieces performed by the University Wind Ensemble and four pieces by the Lee-Davis High School Wind Ensemble from Richmond. The Lee-Davis ensemble is directed by Duane Coston, a former University student and an acclaimed high school conductor.
"It's nice that [Lee-Davis] is doing a joint concert with us," Pease said. "They're one of the top high school bands in the state, so we thought that would be fun."
The U.Va. ensemble will perform a variety of concert band pieces, including "Redline Tango" by John Mackey. Winning the Oswald award in 2005 and recognition as the top piece of new music for concert band, "Tango" is an extremely difficult and complex piece inspired by the Red Line subway in Manhattan, NY.
"The piece is about 10 to 12 minutes [long] and it switches meter every bar for about the whole 10 to 12 minutes," Pease said. "It's very fast and energetic. In a group of 40 members, about 35 have solos, which is unusual. It's the highlight piece of the concert."
The ensemble will perform "Toccata Marziale," a staple in the band world. Rhythmically challenging, this piece is a classically standard piece of band literature. Also included is "Fantasy Variations on a Theme" by Niccolo Paganini, another challenging band piece, which utilizes several specific instruments.
"Every section in the band plays the theme by themselves in a type of solo setting," Pease said. "There are 20 variations -- even percussion has a solo."
One of the major highlights of the performance is a special guest musician the ensemble has invited. Accompanying the ensemble on "Trumpeter's Lullaby" is six-year-old Geoffrey Gallante, a cornet soloist from Northern Virginia.
"We thought it would be interesting to play with him," Pease said." He's been on "The Today Show," "The Tonight Show," played the national anthem at arenas [and] played in D.C. at the Kennedy Center."
The ensemble decided to invite Gallante to help open up their spring concert series after hearing about him from students who worked as his summer camp counselors.
"At six-years-old, he's playing at the level of at least an eighth or ninth grader," Pease said. "He's a highlight of the concert. This is a big opportunity because he will go on to be a major trumpeter in the music world."
With such an exciting guest performer and a diverse musical lineup, the ensemble promises to perform one of the most successful seasons yet.
"It's a mix of some early band works with new literature and classical transcription," Pease said. "I'm thoroughly impressed with the students, to be so prepared in a very limited amount of time."
The concert will be held Sunday at 3:30 p.m. in Old Cabell Hall.
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