91̽»¨

The 91̽»¨ Wind Symphony will perform its final recital of the academic year - Freebirds - on Thursday, March 31 at 7:30 pm at 91̽»¨'s Dr. Steel Recital Hall to a sellout crowd. This has been a particularly successful year for the Wind Symphony with highly acclaimed performances of Angels in the Architecture, the release of its O Canada CD for Island public schools in February, and the receipt of the 2011 Music PEI Award for Best Classical Recording in January.

Two of Canada's finest clarinetists - Jana Starling, assistant professor at Arizona State University, and Wesley Ferriera, lecturer at Mount Allison University - will be featured in this recital performing Freebirds, a double concerto, by the American composer Scott McAllister. This happens to be one of several clarinet works of McAllister's which are somewhat jazz and rock-inspired. Freebirds takes its title and inspiration from the album by the iconic southern rock band, Lynyrd Skynyrd. A driving, ecstatic showpiece, the work begins with a cadenza-like passage for the soloists, takes the listener through some high beautiful lyrical passages and ends in a virtuosic cadenza. This piece grabs hold of the listener and never lets go.

This recital will also feature other contemporary works for the modern wind band by Canadian, English, American and Mexican composers. Frenergy, by Canadian composer John Estacio, gets its title from an amalgamation of the words 'frenetic' and 'energy'. The tempo for this short concert opener is brisk and the pacing of melodic ideas is frantic as befitting the title. John Mackey, an American, wrote a march titled Xerxes. Marches are prevalent in the wind band medium, typically cheerful and, in many cases, patriotic. Xerxes breaks this definition in that, like the nasty Persian ruler of the same name from 500 BC, it is angry. The dissonant harmonies, wide-skipping melodies, percussion colours, and soloistic passages make for an engaging listen. ‘The Courtly Dances' by English composer Benjamin Britten are written in Renaissance style. Taken from Brittten's opera Gloriana, these dances represent those typically found throughout the courts of sixteenth century Europe.

The Wind Symphony will have its first sojourn into the music of Mexico with its rendition of Danzón No. 2 by Arturo Márquez. This contemporary Mexican music expresses and reflects on a dance style called danzón, which has its origins in Cuba but is a very important part of the folklore of the Mexican state of Veracruz. Influenced by the habanera and tango, listeners will be enthralled by the infectious, sexy salsa rhythms.

This recital will be the final Wind Symphony performance for three of its graduating students - Troy Martin, clarinet; Thayne Campbell, bass trombone; and, Miranda Godkin, trumpet. All three have made significant contributions to the Music Department, and the Wind Symphony in particular, throughout their undergraduate careers.

This recital has generated much interest and was sold out as of mid-March.