Circus Days with the North Coast Wind Ensemble

It’s Circus Days with the North Coast Wind Ensemble, and there’s something different in each ring, from circus marches to a modern concerto featuring pianist Daniela Mineva.

The circus marches (also known as “screamers” because they are designed to whip up the circus crowd) are the fast and furious Rolling Thunder by Henry Fillmore, and Circus Days by Karl L. King, who conducted circus bands for Barnum & Bailey and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, and composed some of the most recognizable circus melodies.

The concert’s featured work is the Little Concerto, a 1951 piece by California modernist composer Henry Cowell. “No other composer of our time has produced a body of work so radical and so normal,” famed composer Virgil Thompson said of Cowell.

HSU professor Daniela Mineva is the solo pianist for the concerto. “This work uses extended piano techniques,” said conductor Kenneth Ayoob, “including strumming the strings inside the piano, and the use of tone clusters played with the forearm.”

Also on the program is An Original Suite for Military Band by British composer Gordon Jacob, Variation Overture by American band composer Clifton Williams, and works by Norman Dello Joio, Vincent Persichetti and Alfred Reed.

The North Coast Wind Ensemble is comprised of musicians from local communities. Proceeds from the concert benefit the HSU Music Department Scholarship Fund.

North Coast Wind Ensemble conducted by Kenneth Ayoob and featuring pianist Daniela Mineva performs on Saturday January 28 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $5 general, $2 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Produced by HSU Music Department.

North Coast Wind Ensemble: The Program

Little Concerto by Henry Cowell
Variation Overture by Clifton Williams
Colonial Ballads by Norman Dello Joio
An Original Suite by  Gordon Jacob
Divertimento for Band Op. 42  by Vincent Persichetti
Russian Christmas Music by Alfred Reed
Rolling Thunder by Henry Fillmore
Circus Days by Karl L. King

Winter Music

Coming up this winter at HSU: The North Coast Wind Ensemble on Saturday, January 28; Symphonic Band and Jazz Orchestra on Saturday, February 25; Soprano Elisabeth Harrington on Sunday February 26; guest violinist Bin Huang with pianist Daniela Mineva on Friday, March 2; the Humboldt Symphony on Saturday and Sunday, March 3 and 4; guest pianist Henning Vauth on Friday, March 9. All concerts are in the Fulkerson Recital Hall.  Check back for details. 

Strut and Spin with the North Coast Wind Ensemble

Comprised of some of the best wind instrument players from North Coast communities, the North Coast Wind Ensemble directed by HSU professor Kenneth Ayoob emphasizes the music of popular dance in its Fulkerson Recital Hall concert on Saturday, June 11.

Featured is Robert Bennett Russell’s Suite of Old American Dances which romps through early 20th century styles, beginning with the strutting cakewalk and continuing through the Western One Step and the Wallflower Waltz to the syncopated Rag. Though Russell is best known as a Broadway and Hollywood arranger for George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter, this suite has been called “a crown jewel of the band repertoire.”

The theme continues with four dances by Malcolm Arnold inspired by Scottish folk music, and Shepherd’s Hey by Percy Grainger, based on a merry old English folk dance. The Ensemble also plays Grainger’s Irish Tune From County Derry, with the famous melody of “Danny Boy.”

Reaching back to the Renaissance, the program includes a work by Dutch composer Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck: a series of variations based on a dance tune played at the wedding ball of the Grand Duke Ferdinando of Tuscany, titled Ballo del Graduca.

The concert begins with Overture for Winds written by Felix Mendelssohn when he was 15 years old and fascinated by summer outdoor band concerts. With this piece, one scholar wrote, “Felix Mendelssohn contributed to the wind band repertoire one of the most notable works to come out of the nineteenth century.”

The North Coast Wind Ensemble performs this final concert of its third season on Saturday June 11 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. $5/$2 from HSU Box Office (826-3928) or at the door. Directed by Kenneth Ayoob, produced by HSU Music Department.

Media: Tri-City Weekly, Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye, North Coast Journal, Humboldt Beacon.

North Coast Wind Ensemble: the Program

Overture for Winds, Op. 24 (1824) Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)


Suite of Old American Dances (1949) Robert Russell Bennett (1894- 1981)
Cakewalk
Schottische
Western One Step
Wallflower Waltz
Rag

Irish Tune From County Derry (1909) Percy Grainger (1882-1961)

Shepherd’s Hey (1918) Percy Grainger

Ballo del granduca (1589) Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621)

Four Scottish Dances (1957) Malcolm Arnold (1921- 2006)

From Pineapple Poll to Golden Bear: North Coast Wind Ensemble

At 8 PM on Sunday January 23 in Fulkerson Recital Hall, the North Coast Wind Ensemble returns for its third season with a concert featuring Pineapple Polly, a Golden Bear, sea songs, Elsa’ s Procession, a Children’s March and Noisy Wheels of Joy.

The Wind Ensemble is a North Coast community group organized in 2009 by Heather Benson and its first and current conductor, Kenneth Ayoob. Members include Eureka Symphony players, university and high school teachers and HSU Music graduates.

The program of band favorites on January 23 includes the buoyant Suite from Pineapple Poll (short for Polly), a show that adapts music by Arthur Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan fame.

The rollicking Sea Songs by Ralph Vaughn Williams combines three nautical melodies from the British isles. The sea was a theme that the prominent 20th century British composer returned to several times.

There’s a traditional British Isles feeling as well to Mannin Veen by another 20th century British composer, Haydn Wood. The title of this lilting tone poem refers to the Isle of Man in its ancient Manx language.

The soaring Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral is an instrumental piece from Richard Wagner’s epic opera Lohengrin. The raucous Noisy Wheels of Joy by contemporary American composer Eric Whitacre is a favorite with players and audiences.

No wind band concert is complete without marches and this program includes two--both by foreign-born composers who relocated to the U.S. The playful Children’s March, subtitled “Over the Hills and Far Away” is by 20th century composer Percy Grainger, who wrote and dedicated this piece to a childhood friend. Born in Australia, Grainger lived in various parts of the U.S.

The Golden Bear March is by Joseph John Richards, who first gained fame with his marches written for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus bands. Born in Wales and raised in Kansas, he became a well-known conductor and teacher in southern California.

North Coast Wind Ensemble performs on Sunday January 23 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $5/$2 from HSU Box Office (826-3928) or at the door. Directed by Kenneth Ayoob, produced by HSU Music Department.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye, North Coast Journal

Symphonic Band & North Coast Wind Ensemble

Godzilla destroys Vegas and The Lord of the Rings is evoked in the first combined concert by the HSU Symphonic Band and North Coast Wind Ensemble, both conducted by Kenneth Ayoob, on Friday April 30 at 8 pm 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. Produced by HSU Department of Music.

Godzilla Vs. Lord of the Rings!

Musical evocations of Gandalf from Lord of the Rings and Godzilla on the loose in Las Vegas highlight the first combined concert of the HSU Symphonic Band and the independent North Coast Wind Ensemble, both conducted by Kenneth Ayoob, on Friday, April 30 in Fulkerson Recital Hall.

The Symphonic Band plays Godzilla Eats Las Vegas, the score for a yet-to-exist movie by Los Angeles composer and conductor Eric Whitacre. The music follows Godzilla as he smashes the Vegas strip, laying waste to—among other icons—Wayne Newton. The city is saved by an army of marching Elvi (or “Elvises”), though the king of the monsters escapes to rampage another day.

Other selections on the Band’s program are Bali, an exotic percussion and wind instrument piece by contemporary Canadian composer Michael Colgrass, and Angels in the Architecture, a new piece by Frank Ticheli, another Los Angeles composer. “It portrays elements of light and darkness, good and evil,” said conductor Kenneth Ayoob. “It blends elements of pre-existing and new music into a powerful and thoughtful work of art.”

The Symphonic Band completes its part of the evening with the finale from Symphony #5 by 20th century Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich, one of his most popular compositions.

The North Coast Wind Ensemble plays marches by Paul Hindemith and Charles Ives before combining with the Symphonic Band for two pieces: the Chant Funeraire by Gabriel Faure (composed to honor the 100th anniversary of the death of Napoleon Bonaparte) and a section from Symphony #1 by 20th century Dutch composer Johan De Meij, known as the Lord of the Rings Symphony. Each of the five parts of this symphony corresponds to a character or event in the classic J.R.R. Tolkien novel. The combined Band and Ensemble will play the first section, “Gandalf,” which uses percussion and wind instruments to evoke the wizard who becomes the leader of the Fellowship of the Ring.

The HSU Symphonic Band and North Coast Wind Ensemble perform together on Friday April 30 at 8 pm 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. Produced by HSU Department of Music.

Media: Arcata Eye, Humboldt State Now, Humboldt Beacon

North Coast Wind Ensemble

North Coast Wind Ensemble plays Elgar, Hindemith, Giannini and Ives on Saturday April 3 at 8 pm in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $5/ $2 students and seniors from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Conducted by Kenneth Ayoob, produced by the HSU Department of Music.

Enigma Variations, Marching Metamorphosis and A Lot of Bands at Once

The North Coast Wind Ensemble welcomes spring with a symphony, a song, a couple of marches and some famous variations, in its Fulkerson Recital Hall concert on Saturday, April 3.

The Enigma Variations by English composer Edward Elgar may be “a staple of the orchestral literature,” according to Ensemble conductor Kenneth Ayoob, but this version of the landmark work has been re-scored for wind instruments in a “wonderful arrangement” by Earl Slocum. Each variation is a tribute to one of Elgar’s friends, and the “enigma” of the title refers to a hidden theme. Music historians still debate what that theme is—some guess it is as simple as Auld Lang Syne.

Symphony #3 for Band by 20th century American composer Vittorio Giannini may not be so enigmatic, but it does have variety: a heroic theme, a lyrical second movement, “shifting rhythmic playfulness” in the third movement, and a final movement of “pure excitement.”

The two marches on the April 3 program “could not be more different,” said Ayoob, “as they contrast the composers’ unique styles.” Twentieth century German composer Paul Hindemith wrote his Symphonic Metamorphosis after emigrating to the U.S. during World War II. The Ensemble plays the March section of this larger work, as arranged by Yale University band director Keith Wilson at Hindemith’s request.

Contrasting with this serious work is the Country Band March by 20th century U.S. composer Charles Ives who “draws from his own experience with amateur bands,” Ayoob said. “It’s a parody of what those bands might sound like if several of them played at once. It includes quotations from no fewer than twelve well-known tunes.”

Colonial Song by composer Percy Grainger is a “lyric work written for and about the people of his native Australia.” Grainger was the subject of “Passion,” the 1999 movie by Australian director Peter Duncan.

The North Coast Wind Ensemble performs on Saturday April 3 at 8 pm in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $5/ $2 students and seniors from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Conducted by Kenneth Ayoob, produced by the HSU Department of Music.

Media: Arcata Eye, Humboldt State Now, Humboldt Beacon

Director's Notes

Two sets of works contrasting American and European traditions make up the bulk of the upcoming North Coast Wind Ensemble concert.

Elgar’s Enigma Variations are a staple of the orchestral literature and the work has been re-scored for winds in a wonderful arrangement by Earl Slocum. This long form work is contrasted with a classic of the wind literature, Symphony #3 by Vittorio Giannini. The symphony, in four movements begins with a heroic theme that is based on the interval of a fourth and is transformed into a fugue, with a contrasting lyric middle section. The second movement takes advantage of the lyric sounds of the woodwinds, while the third is marked by a shifting rhythmic playfulness. The final movement is pure excitement.

The second set of contrasts include the March from Symphonic Metamorphosis of Hindemith and the Country Band March of Ives. They could not be more different as each work showcases its composers unique style. The Symphonic Metamorphosis was composed by Hindemith while he was at Yale and he asked Yale’s band director, Keith Wilson to make a wind arrangement. The march is based on a theme by Carl Maria von Weber which is stated in a two bar fragment at the beginning and later transformed and developed throughout the work. The Country Band March of Ives draws from his own experiences with amateur bands and is a parody of what those bands might sound like if several of them played at once. It includes quotations from no fewer than 12 well known tunes.

The wind ensemble will also perform Colonial Song by Percy Grainger. This lyric work was written for and about the people his native Australia and expressed his wish to “voice a certain kind of emotion that seems to me not untypical of native-born colonials in general.

North Coast Wind Ensemble

The North Coast Wind Ensemble kicks off its second season with a festive overture, orchestral music and wind band classics on Saturday November 21 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. $5 general, $2 students and seniors from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Kenneth Ayoob, conductor. Produced by the HSU Department of Music.

Festive Overture: Wind Ensemble Begins Second Year

The North Coast Wind Ensemble begins its second year with a concert of festive orchestral music and wind band classics at Fulkerson Hall on Saturday, November 21.

Conducted by Kenneth Ayoob, the North Coast Wind Ensemble gathers some of the best wind and percussion players on the North Coast. The ensemble is “dedicated to performing the best of the wind band repertoire regardless of genre,” Ayoob asserts, “and strives to present entertaining and thought-provoking concerts to the North Coast.”

The November 21 concert features adaptations of orchestral works: “The Festive Overture” by Dmitri Shostakovich, and “La Procession Du Rocio” by early 20th century Spanish composer Joaquin Turina.

Band music is a wind ensemble staple, so the program includes selections by two American and two British composers. “Sinfonia No. 4” is by contemporary American Walter Hartley, and “Symphonic Songs for Band” is by Robert Russell Bennett, best known for his orchestrations of classic Broadway and Hollywood musicals.

“First Suite for Military Band” by Gustav Holst and “Toccata Marziale” by Ralph Vaughan Williams, both distinguished 20th century British composers, complete the evening.

The North Coast Wind Ensemble performs on Saturday November 21 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $5 general, $2 students and seniors from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Kenneth Ayoob, conductor.

Media: Arcata Eye, Humboldt State Now.

Kenneth Ayoob, conductor of the North Coast Wind Ensemble.

North Coast Wind Ensemble

North Coast Wind Ensemble plays Bach, Sousa, Wagner and “Elegy for a Young American” on Saturday, June 13 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. $5 general, $2 students and seniors from HSU ticket office (826-3928) or at the door. Kenneth Ayoob, conductor.

Marching to Summer with the North Coast Wind Ensemble

The more than 30 players of the North Coast Wind Ensemble usher in summer with an eclectic concert on Saturday, June 13 in the Fulkerson Recital Hall.

On the program are Bach’s “Prelude and Fugue in G,” Hindesmith’s Symphony in Bb, and Richard Wagner’s “Truaersinfonie.”

“If you’re going to be a band, you have to do marches,” said conductor Kenneth Ayoob. This concert will feature one of the American masters: John Philip Sousa, and his “Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.”

Also on the program are William Schuman’s “Chester from New England Triptych,” Fisher Tull’s “Sketches on a Tudor Psalm” and Ronald LoPresti’s “Elegy for a Young American.”

The North Coast Wind Ensemble plays on Saturday, June 13 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. $5 general, $2 students and seniors from HSU ticket office (826-3928) or at the door. Kenneth Ayoob, conductor.