On Sunday, April 5, 2009, at 7:30 p.m. in Cartwright Auditorium, the Kent State University Wind Ensemble and KSU Chorale will present their annual joint concert. Wayne Gorder will conduct the Wind Ensemble in Percy Grainger’s adventurous setting of “Hill Song No. 2.” Featured guest artists for the program will be the Kent Faculty Brass Quintet. The Quintet will join the Wind Ensemble in performance of American composer Eric Ewazen’s Shadowcatcher.  Ewazen’s work is based on the American photographer Edward Curtis’ early 20th century images of the Southwest United States, with emphasis on the cultures of Native Americans. The three movements are titled “Offering to the Sun,” “The Vanishing Race” and “Dancing to Restore an Eclipsed Moon.”

Dr. Scott MacPherson will lead the Chorale in a program of varied worksincluding Palestrina, Sweelinck, Mozart, Fauré, Brahms, Britten and Whitacre.

The Chorale and Wind Ensemble will join forces for two strikingly different works. Though written in 1858, Johannes Brahms “Begräbnisgesang” (Funeral Hymn) is representative of the dark and warm character that would become the trademark of the style of his later works. The concert will conclude with another side of the character of Percy Grainger, his buoyant “I’m Seventeen Come Sunday” for choir and brass.

The concert is free and free parking is available in the lot immediately south of the Cartwright Auditorium.

For more information call the concert line at 330-672-3609.

Media Contact: Wayne Gorder, 330-672-2965, wgorder@kent.edu.