April 21, 2012: BandSong, featuring the University Singers and Wind Ensemble

Saturday, April 21, 7:30 p.m.
Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, Discovery Theater (621 W. 6th Ave.)
Tickets: $25/adult, $20/senior and military, $10/youth and UAA students (available through CenterTix)

The University Singers and Wind Ensemble join forces in a program called BandSong. In this program, conductors Grant Cochran and Mark Wolbers celebrate the musical connections between band and choir. The first half of the program features music for both ensembles by William Byrd. This is followed by a rare performance of Gustav Holst's "Second Suite for Military Band" paired with Holst's very own choral settings of the folk songs used in the Suite. These choral settings by Holst were composed following the band composition and give insight into this connection between band and song.

The second half of the program opens with "Chester" by America's first native-born composer William Billings. This famous revolutionary war music for choir is followed by William Schuman's work of the same title for band. The guest conductor for this work will be Professor Eric Rombach-Kendall, director of bands at the University of New Mexico and president of the College Band Directors National Association.

The University Singers will follow "Chester" with a suite of works by Leonard Bernstein selected from various musical theatre productions. The concert will conclude with Aaron Copland's "Old American Songs" set for band and choir.

Professor Grant Cochran is well known to Anchorage audiences as the conductor of the Anchorage Concert Chorus. In August, following a national search, he was appointed assistant professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage. In his new role as professor, he is also now the music director of the University Singers and teaches voice, choral conducting and voice methods for music education majors.

Professor Mark Wolbers is in his 20th year at UAA. He is credited with launching and developing the Wind Ensemble into one of the state's finest wind bands. As cultural ambassadors for UAA, the Wind Ensemble annually engages in a Fall Tour of performances throughout Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula. In the spring, the Wind Ensemble participates in the annual Symphony of Sounds scholarship concerts and presents performances in Mat-Su, the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts and at UAA Commencement.

For more information, please contact Mark Wolbers at (907) 786-1508.