Opening concert features composer-in-residence Joseph Schwantner

The award-winning wind band at the University of South Carolina, directed by Scott Weiss, is among the finest of its kind in the nation and presents classic wind music, new music and world premieres by exciting contemporary composers including Joseph Schwantner, Jesse Jones and USC composition professor Fang Man. The six free concerts take place at the Koger Center for the Arts and the new Johnson Performance Hall at the Darla Moore School Business.    

The first concert takes place Monday, Sept. 21 and features Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Joseph Schwantner, composer-in-residence at USC for the week. Schwantner, known for his dramatic and unique style and as a gifted orchestral colorist, is one of the most prominent American composers today. Several Grammy nominations, many awards, grants and fellowships, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1979 for his orchestral composition Aftertones of Infinity, have marked Schwantner’s compositional career. The composer presents a talk about his music the afternoon of the concert at 2:30 p.m..

Mon., Sept. 21, 2:30–4:00 p.m.
Talk by Joseph Schwantner, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Composer
USC School of Music, room 210
Free and open to the public
Joseph Schwantner, composer in residence at USC this week, gives a talk about his music.  

Mon., Sept. 21, 7:30 p.m.
Luminosity: USC Wind Ensemble Concert
Koger Center for the Arts – FREE
Featured on the opening concert is the USC premiere of Luminosity: Concerto for Wind Orchestra by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, Joseph Schwantner. One of America’s leading composers, Schwantner’s works have been performed by the world’s most prominent professional orchestras, chamber music groups and soloists. His four previous works for wind ensemble have become part of the standard wind band repertoire, and his new concerto for wind orchestra is destined to take its place alongside those previous works. Schwantner will be in residence at USC September 20-21 and will be in attendance for this performance. Also on the program are works by Leonard Bernstein, J.S. Bach and Michael Daugherty.

Sunday, October 18, 4;00 p.m.
USC Wind Ensemble Concert
Koger Center for the Arts
The program opens with Edvard Grieg’s Funeral March for Rikard Nordrak and continues with Antonin Dvorak’s charming Serenade in D Minor, Op. 44. After the intermission, guest conductor Paul DeCinque conducts David Maslanka’s epic work, A Child’s Garden of Dreams. This very powerful work is based on writings by Carl Jung and is one of the cornerstones of the wind band repertoire.

Sunday, December 6, 4:00 p.m.
USC Wind Ensemble Concert
Johnson Performance Hall (Darla Moore School of Business)
This concert showcases French wind chamber music, featuring pianist Joseph Rackers in Jean Francaix’s Hommage a l’ami Papageno. A tip of the hat to Mozart and his opera The Magic Flute, this charming work is a miniature piano concerto for piano and 10 winds. Also on the program is Charles Gounod’s Petite Symphonie conducted by guest conductor Will Talley and Henri Tomasi’s monumental brass work, Fanfares Liturgiques.

Friday, February 12, 7:30 p.m.
USC Wind Ensemble Concert
Koger Center for the Arts
The ensemble’s performance at the annual USC Band Clinic features USC woodwind faculty members Jennifer Parker-Harley (flute), Rebecca Nagel (oboe), Michael Harley (bassoon), and Joseph Eller (clarinet). They will perform the Concerto for Woodwind Quartet and Wind Orchestra by Brazilian composer, Heitor Villa-Lobos. Also on the program are works by Dmitri Shostakovich, Michael Gandolfi and James Barnes.

Friday, March 18, 7:30 p.m.
USC Wind Ensemble Concert
Johnson Performance Hall
This jazz-inspired program features clarinetist Joseph Eller playing the solo originally created for the great Benny Goodman in Leonard Bernstein’s Prelude, Fugue and Riffs, and mezzo-soprano Janet Hopkins performs Five Cabaret Songs by William Bolcom. The program opens with a rarely-heard performance of M is for Man, Music, Mozart by Dutch composer, Louis Andriessen whose work De Staat was heard most recently in Columbia as a part of last season’s Southern Exposure concert series.

Sunday, April 24, 4:00 p.m.
USC Wind Ensemble Concert
Koger Center for the Arts
The final concert of the season features two premieres. The program opens with a concert performance of the first two acts of Fang Man’s new opera Golden Lilly. After the intermission, the program continues with David Maslanka’s Traveler conducted by Cormac Cannon, the new associate director of bands and director of athletic bands at USC. Concluding the program will be the USC premiere of William Bolcom’s Soprano Saxophone Concerto featuring USC saxophone professor Clifford Leaman. This performance is part of William Bolcom’s 2016 residency at USC, and the composer will be present for the performance.