Quad City Wind Ensemble

BRITISH INVADE QUAD CITY WIND ENSEMBLE
Quad City Wind Ensemble Presents "A Royal Feast for The Ear with Music Written for Kings and Queens".

DAVENPORT, IA - While the Beatles are enjoying renewed recognition with the recent release of the popular video game The Beatles Rock Band and a new box set of their remastered recordings, the Quad City Wind Ensemble will present its own version of the British Invasion on its October 25, 2009 concert. Proving that British music existed long before the Beatles, the October 25th concert will showcase a variety of music composed for kings, queens and nobility. The concert will be held in Galvin Fine Arts Center on the campus of St. Ambrose University, 518 West Locust Street, at 3:00 P.M. Admission for adults is $5, $4 for seniors over 65, and free for students. Among the pieces performed will be those of British composers Ralph Vaughn Williams, Gordon Jacob, Guy Woolfenden, and William Walton. 

The final piece on the concert, Waltons' Crown Imperial, was composed for the 1937 coronation of George VI, King of England and father of reigning Queen Elizabeth II.  Born in 1902 in Oldham, England, Walton became one of the youngest students at Oxford University when he began his undergraduate program at the age of 16. Although he never completed his studies, his compositions have garnered acclaim and praise as the composer whose music will outlast all his English contemporaries.

Ralph Vaughn Williams is considered one of the most important English composers of the 20th Century. So much so, that his ashes are interred in Westminster Abbey alongside the nation's greatest artists and poets. Known for using British folk melodies in his compositions, Vaughn Williams Sea Songs is built around melodies of British sailors including "Princess Royal" and will open the second half of the Quad City Wind Ensemble concert.

In addition to the royal music of famous British composers, the Quad City Wind Ensembles October 25th concert will also feature regal music from other corners of the world. Russian composer Nicholai Rimsky-Korsakovs Procession of the Nobles  will open the concert and the founder of the Quad City Wind Ensemble, Dr. Charles DCamp, will conduct American composer John Philip Sousa’s Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.  Audience members will also be treated to music of the mythical kingdoms in the box office block buster movie The Lord of the Rings, Return of the King.

The 2009-2010 season will be conductor Brian Hughes' third year leading the Quad City Wind Ensemble. Hughes is a very active conductor both here and abroad. He made his European conducting debut in Eger, Hungary in 1993 and has subsequently conducted ensembles in the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania and Russia. He founded the Tri-State Wind Symphony of Dubuque, Iowa in 1995 and recently led the establishment of the Mississippi Valley Philharmonic, a community orchestra based also in Dubuque. Hughes has won conducting prizes from the Hradec Kralove Philharmonic and the West Bohemian Philharmonic, both in the Czech Republic. He is a two-time winner of the Richard and Agatha Church Conducting Prize and was presented the 2005 Elisha Darlin Award by the Dubuque County Fine Arts Society for his outstanding contribution to the arts.

If you would like more information regarding the Quad City Wind Ensemble, please contact Chairperson Nicolas Propes at nicolas_propes@hotmail.com. For an interview with our conductor, please contact Brain Hughes at maestroblh1@gmail.com.

The third and final concert of the season for the Quad City Wind Ensemble.  Featured during the concert will be flutist, Carolyn Holst, a Pleasant Valley High School student, and winner of the Quad City Wind Ensemble's Twentieth Annual Young Performer’s Solo Competition. Carolyn will be performing Camille Chaminade's Concertino for Flute and Band. In addition to performing with the Quad City Wind Ensemble, Carolyn will be eligible for a music scholarship worth up to $24,000 ($6,000 annually for 4 years) should she choose to attend St. Ambrose University.  She will also receive a $250 scholarship from the Quad City Wind Ensemble for private study. 

The concert will open with Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man" and will include Gershwin's "An American in Paris" as well as works by Gordon Jacob, Frank Ticheli, Walter Piston, and Norman Dello Joio.