PULLMAN, Wash. – Jazz and symphonic bands at Washington State University will present free, public concerts on Tuesday, Oct. 6, and Thursday, Oct. 8.
A jazz performance featuring soloists and ensembles at 8 p.m., Oct. 6, in Kimbrough Hall will mark the directing debuts for Brian Ward, Jazz Band I, and Brian Ploeger, Jazz Band II.
Ploeger won this year’s Downbeat award for Graduate College Soloist on Trumpet/Flugelhorn. Ward helped create an arrangement for Esperanza Spalding that won the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement for Vocal Performance.
Beloved classics of band literature will be performed by the Symphonic Band and Symphonic Wind Ensemble at 8 p.m., Oct. 8, in Bryan Hall. Works by John Barnes Chance, Vincent Persichetti and John Williams will be featured.
WSU voice professor and mezzo-soprano Sheila Converse will join the bands to perform Jess Langston Turner’s “Lullaby.”
Contacts:
Brian Ward, WSU Jazz Band I, brian.ward@wsu.edu
Brian Ploeger, WSU Jazz Band II, brian.ploeger@wsu.edu
Danh Pham, WSU Symphony Band, 509-335-3972, danh.pham@wsu.edu
Sandra Albers, WSU School of Music, 509-335-4148, sandra_albers@wsu.edu