Clemson University Symphonic Band

November 23rd, 2009 at 8:00 pm - As the top auditioned group of wind and percussion musicians at Clemson University, the Symphonic Ba Learn More...

Free (no ticket required)

Purchase Tickets For All Events

Clemson University Choral Ensembles

December 1st, 2009 at 8:00 pm - The Department of Performing Arts introduces its new choral director, Justin Durham, in a program of Learn More...

$8 adults/$5 students (general seating)

Purchase Tickets For All Events

Clemson University Symphony Orchestra

December 3rd, 2009 at 8:00 pm - Popular orchestral hits fill this winter program, from the “Waltz” and “Polonaise” of Tchaikovsky’s Learn More...

$5 adults/students free (general seating)

Purchase Tickets For All Events

The Spirit of Christmas

December 8th, 2009 at 8:00 pm - The Spirit of Christmas takes you on a magical journey to a winter wonderland of fun and festive che Learn More...

$30 adults/$20 students

Purchase Tickets For All Events

Tony DeSare, vocalist

January 14th, 2010 at 8:00 pm - Singer, pianist, and songwriter Tony DeSare has earned critical acclaim for his performances at the Learn More...

$20 adults/$10 students

Purchase Tickets For All Events

Clemson University Symphonic Band

November 23rd, 2009 at 8:00 pm

As the top auditioned group of wind and percussion musicians at Clemson University, the Symphonic Band prepares programs of the finest repertoire available for wind bands. You won’t want to miss this concert featuring the 100th anniversary of Gustav Holst’s "First Suite in E-flat for Military Band," a piece which helped to legitimize the wind band as a viable musical medium. Clemson music professor Dr. Linda Li-Bleuel will perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 15 in B-flat Major, K. 450.

Press Release

Clemson University Symphonic Band will perform the music of several great composers as part of its annual fall concert. Under the baton of Mark Spede, the ensemble will play music by Wolfgang Mozart and David Maslanka as well as perform a piece written 100 years ago by Gustav Holst.

Opening the concert is “Mother Earth Fanfare” written in 2006 by David Maslanka. “This short piece was inspired by a prayer written by St. Francis of Assisi,” said Spede. “The words pay homage to the earth’s bountiful gifts. The composition is appropriate for the season of Thanksgiving.”

Next Clemson University pianist and music professor Linda Li-Bleuel joins the 65-member ensemble in a performance of two movements from Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 15 in B-flat Major. Considered by many to be the most difficult of the more than 25 piano concertos written by Mozart, this work showcases several quickly played scale and chord patterns. “The piece is both technically challenging and musically rewarding,” said Spede about the composition.

A recent Fulbright fellow to Taiwan, Li-Bleuel has been a member of the Department of Performing Arts since 1997. Currently, she is learning a new composition written for her and her husband, classical saxophonist and conductor John Bleuel. The Bleuels commissioned the award-winning composer Lucie Robert to write a piece that the duo will premiere next year.

“I’m looking forward to sharing the stage with the Symphonic Band,” said Li-Bleuel.

The centerpiece of the concert is a new composition by Steven Bryant. Written last year, “Ecstatic Waters” is a groundbreaking work in many ways, explained Spede. “The piece utilizes computer-generated electronics along with the live musicians to represent the conflict between humanity and their reliance on machines. ‘Ecstatic Waters’ is a juxtaposition of opposing musical and extra-musical elements and an attempt to resolve them,” he said. “In my opinion, it’s one of the greatest works composed for band in the last 20 years…maybe ever. Only time will tell.”

The Suite No. 1 in E-flat by Gustav Holst has certainly stood the test of time. Composed in 1909, the suite was a revolutionary piece of music because it was written exclusively for wind band. “At that time,” said Spede, “the concert wind band repertoire consisted mainly of marches and transcriptions of pieces originally scored for orchestra. Holst wanted to make the concert band a serious concert medium, and this piece is seen as the first step in that direction.”

To mark the composition’s 100th anniversary, the symphonic band will perform the suite, which today serves as a cornerstone of band repertoire.

To complete the program, the ensemble will perform “Zion,” a composition written in 1994 by Dan Welcher. According to the composer, the work conveys his feelings while visiting Zion National Park located in Utah.

“‘Zion’ is the third and final installment of a series of works for wind ensemble inspired by national parks in the western United States called Three Places in the West,” said Spede. “Zion” is based on a song by Aaron Copland entitled “Zion’s Walls” written in 1952, and Clemson professors Li-Bleuel and Lisa Sain Odom, soprano, will perform it prior to the Welcher.

Purchase Tickets For All Events