December Preview

Symphonic Band plays Pulitzer Prize winner Howard Hanson on Friday December 2 at 8 p.m. in Fulkerson.


Calypso Band premieres "Pan Army" and Percussion Ensemble plays on Saturday December 3 at 8 p.m. in the Van Duzer Theatre.


Madrigal Singers perform Renaissance songs of the season and MRT sings jazz and blues on Sunday December 4 at 8 p.m. in Fulkerson.


 AM Jazz Band performs on Thursday December 8 at 8 p.m. in Fulkerson.


Humboldt Symphony plays Gershwin's An American in Paris on Friday December 9 at 8 p.m. and Sunday December 11 at 3 p.m. in Fulkerson.


Jazz Orchestra plays on Saturday December 10 at 8 p.m. in Fulkerson.


Humboldt Chorale presents King Island Christmas and the University Singers perform Vivaldi's Gloria on Sunday December 11 at 8 p.m. in Fulkerson.

The Wednesday Quartet:Dan Fair, Kris Lang, Steven Workman and Drew McGowan.

From Gypsy Jazz to Modern with HSU Jazz Combos

Four jazz combos offer a variety of styles from modern mainstream to Gypsy Jazz at the Fulkerson Recital Hall on Sunday November 13.

The quintet called High Speed Pursuit Ate My Homework features “unusual timbres and eclectic repertoire,” according to HSU jazz professor Dan Aldag. Sandy Lindop (voice and piano), Branden Lewis (trumpet), Dan Fair (guitar), Mike Cimino (bass) and Tyler Hunt (drums) take their unique approach to a Charles Mingus gospel-drenched blues and a Broadway show tune, among other selections.

The Wednesday Quartet play Gypsy Jazz first popularized by guitarist Django Reinhardt—including a Reinhardt tune. The Quartet is Drew McGowan on violin, Kris Lang and Dan Fair on guitars and Steven Workman on bass.

The Deadly Combo plays Duke Ellington, Chuck Wayne and two original tunes, on trumpet (Justin Bertolini), piano (Joel Bettencourt), bass (Max Jones) and drums (Thatcher Holvick-Norton.)

The Friday Quartet is comprised of veteran players familiar on the local jazz scene: Ari Davie (trumpet), Aber Miller (piano), Tyler Machado (bass) and Gabriel Ben-Shalom (drums.) They play a post-bop Bill Evans tune and several originals.

Four Jazz Combos perform on Sunday November 13 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Free to HSU students with ID. Directed by Dan Aldag, produced by HSU Music Department.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye

Humboldt Bay Brass Band Plays Tribute to Veterans Day

Brass bands and Veterans Day seem to naturally go together, so the Humboldt Bay Brass Band highlights the connection in its concerts on Friday and Saturday, November 11 and 12 in Fulkerson Recital Hall.

After an opening set that includes the classic National Emblem march and the “Parade of the Charioteers” from the Academy Award-winning score for Ben-Hur, the Humboldt Bay Brass Band presents its new ensemble, the Fort Humboldt Brass Band, which plays authentic brass band arrangements of Civil War era American tunes during intermission. Carrying on the HBBB tradition of reviving vintage instruments, the group uses a recently acquired soprano “saxhorn” from 1860, and an 1895 E-flat tuba, which hasn’t been heard in Humboldt County since the 1940s.

Then the Veterans Day emphasis begins in earnest, with the HBBB playing the “Mars” section of Gustav Holst’s The Planets, “Let Nothing Ever Grieve Thee” by Johannes Brahms, and American Salute by Morton Gould (based on “When Johnny Comes Marching Home.”)

The concert concludes with “Hymn for the Fallen” by John Williams, from the film Saving Private Ryan, and “Dona nobis pacem,” the last movement of J.S. Bach’s Mass in B-Minor.  This music was selected, said HBBB director Gilbert Cline, "to allow individuals in the audience to find a personal meaning."

Humboldt Bay Brass Band performs on Friday and Saturday, November 11 and 12 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Free to HSU students with ID. Directed by Gilbert Cline, produced by HSU Music Department.

Media: Humboldt State Now, The Lumberjack, Tri-City Weekly, Humboldt Beacon, North Coast Journal

Sail and Dance with the Humboldt Symphony

Humboldt Symphony sails with the HMS Pinafore in its fall concert on November 4 in the Fulkerson Recital Hall.

The Overture to HMS Pinafore includes some of the most popular tunes in any Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. Composer Arthur Sullivan wrote other orchestral music, notes Humboldt Symphony conductor Paul Cummings, but today he is chiefly remembered for his operetta collaborations with W. S. Gilbert. “There’s a beautiful slow section in the middle of this piece,” Cumming said, “but in the overture tradition, it starts fast and ends fast.”

The full orchestra that sails with Pinafore also dances with Brahms and Alexander Borodin. “We’re playing two of Brahms’ Hungarian Dances,” Cummings said. “These are among Brahms’ best known compositions, and the two we’re doing—the fifth and sixth—are the most popular. They’ve been arranged for all kinds of ensembles and instrumentations, but we’re doing Brahms’ original arrangement for orchestra.” Based on folk melodies, these 19th century dances are bright and lively with energizing tempo changes, and are credited with influencing the development of ragtime.

Originally written for an opera, Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances are more varied, depicting various moods of the characters. “We’re doing the second movement,” Cumming said. “It has a series of impressive solo passages for clarinet, oboe and English horn.”

The string section takes command for the other two pieces on the program. “Gabriel Faure’s Pavane has a very popular melody,” Cummings notes. “It’s also been arranged for many instruments, but the full string section with two horns and woodwinds expresses its delicate lyricism in a bigger way. There are also beautiful passages for flute in its low register, which you don’t get to hear often.”

The Brook Green Suite by Gustav Holst is entirely a string orchestra piece. “All the instruments have independent voice,” Cummings observed, “and there’s some wonderful counterpoint.” Known as Holst’s most accessible work, the Brook Green Suite was the last of his music that Holst heard performed.

The Humboldt Symphony performs on Friday November 4 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Free to HSU students with ID. Conducted by Paul Cummings, produced by HSU Music Department.

Media: TriCity Weekly, Humboldt State Now

Humboldt Symphony: The Program

Arthur Sullivan - Overture to HMS Pinafore
Gabriel Faure - Pavane
Johannes Brahms - Hungarian Dances 5 & 6
Alexander Borodin - Polovtsian Dances
Gustav Holst - Brook Green Suite