Encore! Alumni Band moves outdoors for final concert
By popular response, it’s a move to the great outdoors by Utah State University’s Summer Alumni Band. The band presents its final concert of the summer season Sunday, July 30, on the USU Quad in the shadow of Old Main.
In recent years the band has limited its outdoor performances to one per season, but the audience reaction to its July 2 performance on the Quad was such that the band has chosen to present its final performance outdoors, according to the band’s director and USU professor of music Nicholas Morrison.
“It was great to see so many families there and so many children,” said Morrison. “We hope they’ll come back and bring some friends, a blanket, a picnic, a Frisbee and even the family dog.”
The July 30 program features two guest conductors – Karen Keltner and Barbara Day Turner – already familiar to Cache Valley residents as conductors at the Utah Festival Opera Company. Keltner conducts “Brighton Beach,” a concert march by William Latham, and Turner conducts “Shenandoah,” set by Frank Ticheli.
“These conductors are fine musicians and really know how to pull out the best from every player in the ensemble,” said Morrison. “It is a real treat for the band members to work with guests of this stature, and the audience will like it, too.”
Sunday’s guest ensemble is HiFalutin’ Flute Choir of Logan. This chamber group had its start in 1998 and currently has seven members, three of whom are members of the Alumni Band. The ensemble performs on the entire family of flutes, from piccolo to alto and bass flute. The ensemble has been a featured performer for the Utah Flute Association.
“We’re happy to be sharing our music with the summer audience in Logan,” said ensemble leader Jo Hays.
Other selections on Sunday’s program include Holst’s “First Suite in E-flat” and “A Jubilant Overture” by Alfred Reed. The band also performs a patriotic selection at the end of the program, “Elegy for a Young American” by American composer Ronald Lo Presti.
“We’d like to thank our friends at USU’s facilities services for allowing us to present these concerts in such a beautiful setting,” said conductor Morrison. “We also owe a debt of gratitude to our audience members. It is so satisfying to perform for such an enthusiastic crowd. It’s been a great summer.”
As for all Summer Alumni Band concerts, Morrison especially invites families with children.
Sunday’s program begins at 7 p.m. on the Quad, just east of Old Main, on the Utah State campus. In case of rain or high wind, the performance will move indoors to the Kent Concert Hall in the Chase Fine Arts Center.