ALUMNI BAND RETURNS TO KENT CONCERT HALL FOR JULY 17 CONCERT
Utah State University’s Alumni Band returns to the stage of the Kent Concert Hall in the Chase Fine Arts Center for its next-to-last concert. Under the baton of Nicholas Morrison, the band’s performance is Sunday, July 17, and begins at 7 p.m. The concert is free and all are invited, especially families with children.
“We especially invite families with children to our concerts,” Morrison said. “The concert can be an enjoyable family activity and our summer concerts are casual, festive events.”
Musical guests joining the band include Jon Gudmundson, Steve Call and Mark Emile. The intermission feature highlights HiFalutin’, a flute choir organized in 1998. The ensemble provided a fun, informal opportunity to perform together once a week, and members soon found themselves performing for family, church and community. HiFalutin’ recently performed in the Logan Tabernacle Concert Series. Members of the ensemble include Ally Bailey, Traci Boston, Shannon Clemens, Jo Hays, Joni Shepherd, Lori Kilgore and Ewa Wilczynsky.
The band will perform several selections in a nod to the coming Pioneer Day holiday, including “Hootenanny” by Siegmeister and “The Cowboys” by Williams. “Hootenanny” is a great suite of American folk songs, Morrison said.
This week’s Sousa march is “Golden Jubilee” and other titles include “March of the Belgian Paratroopers” by Leemans/Wiley, “Misty Rain, Softly Falling” by Erickson and Joplin’s “The Entertainer.”
Guest soloist Emile is a faculty member in Utah State’s music department where he teaches scoring and arranging. He was originally scheduled to perform earlier this summer but a scheduling adjustment brings him to the July 17 concert. A violinist, he will perform the theme from “Schindler’s List.”
Fellow faculty member Gudmundson takes the podium as guest conductor for “Big Bands in Concert.”
“Jon is director of the department’s jazz studies program, so it’s super to have him guest conduct this big band chart,” Morrison said. “Jon’s full of energy and a fabulous teacher. The band and audience will really enjoy him.”
In addition to his role as director of jazz studies, Gudmundson is an assistant professor of saxophone at Utah State. He holds degrees from Western Washington University, Indiana University and the University of Northern Colorado. His performing credits include appearances with the National Repertory Orchestra, the Cheyenne Symphony, the Bloomington (Indiana) Chamber Orchestra and the Brevard Chamber Orchestra. He has served as clinician, adjudicator, featured soloist and lecturer at conferences and festivals across North America.
The evening’s third guest, Steve Call, is a USU graduate and is an assistant professor in the School of Music at Brigham Young University. A tuba specialist, he is the soloist in “Beelzebub” by Catozzi. “The title’s perfect,” Morrison said. “What else would you call a tuba solo?”
Call has been at BYU since 1979 and teaches tuba, euphonium and jazz studies. He also directs the award-winning BYU Jazz Legacy Dixieland Band. His solo performance of “Tubby the Tuba” for solo tuba, narrator and orchestra was released on CD as part of the Macmillan-McGraw Hill’s “Share the Music” series.
The Alumni Band has one remaining concert on tap. The final event of the summer season is July 31.
Construction projects on the Utah State campus limit driving and parking access to some areas. There is no access to the Chase Fine Arts Center from the west parking lot throughout the summer. The most convenient parking for concert patrons is northeast of the Fine Arts Center in the Nutrition and Food Science (Aggie Ice Cream) parking lot.
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