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Students perform the first piece of the Wind Ensemble around the White Concert Hall steps. They performed, “American Ledger No.1” by Raven Chacon.
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Von Hansen, assistant professor of music and theatre, uses an axe to chop wood as part of the first performance. The Washburn Wind Ensemble organized this concert with the WUmester theme, “Being Human.”
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Students perform the third piece of the WU wind ensemble in the main lobby of the Garvey Fine Arts Center. They performed “Petite Symphonie” by Charles Gounod and Carmina Burana by Carl Orff.
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Anya Pogorelova, director of bands and conductor, leads the concert using a baton. Altogether, seven pieces were performed during this concert.
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Rashawn Ford, freshman music education major, plays the percussion. Ford started playing percussion in sixth grade.
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The group of musicians are performing on their respective instruments. For the first time, part of the concert was held outside of White Concert Hall.
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Pogorelova discusses the “Being Human” theme of the concert midway through. She expressed gratitude to the audience for attending the event on a Friday evening.
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Students pause during the concert as their part concludes. The Washburn ensemble presented the sound of water fountains around campus as their fifth piece.
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Simon Walrod, junior music education major, plays percussion. Walrod was excited to perform “An American Elegy.”
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The musicians stand up after finishing their performance to show gratitude for those attending the concert. The concert was held on April 25.
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Dylan Rizzo, senior music education major, performs on the clarinet. Around 100 spectators were present for the concert.
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Musicians throw coins in the pot as a part of their music in American Ledger No.1. This was the ensemble’s final concert of the semester.
On Friday April 25, the Washburn Wind Ensemble held a concert at various locations on campus from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. About 100 spectators attended the performance. Seven pieces were performed during the concert.
The Washburn Ensemble performed the concert by playing different pieces around White Concert Hall and the Mulvane Art Museum. The concert was conducted by Anya Pogorelova, director of bands and conductor.
Pogorelova said the selections were chosen to reflect the concert’s theme, ‘Being Human’. Some pieces represented the tragedies humans experience on Earth, while others highlighted what the planet offers such as water and nature, as featured in “Keepers of the House.” The goal was to find music that was both thought-provoking and emotionally moving.
“All the concerts [typically] take place in [White Concert Hall,” Pogorelova said. “Moving elsewhere just created a different concert experience. People are uncomfortable with the concept of going outdoors or having sound in an art gallery. Art galleries are always really quiet, so I wanted to challenge how people were perceiving the spaces and how music interacts with it.”
Simon Walrod, junior music education major and percussionist, shares the piece that excites him most and describes the ensemble’s preparation for the concert.
“That last one, ‘American Elegy,’ is the most exciting piece,” Walrod said. “We spent the last five weeks preparing for this concert. We spent an hour and a half on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so four-and-a-half hours each week [preparing]. And then we have sectionals that we spend an hour on each week as well.”
Pogorelova also expressed the main goal of the concert.
“To get some thoughts rolling in response to the feelings,” Pogorelova said. “Sometimes we listen and we feel things, but we don’t always think about why we feel those things. This concert, I feel, makes people think first and then feel so it’s kind of a different order.”
The Washburn Department of Music is conducting a WU Jazz Ensemble concert on May 1 at 7:30 p.m. in White Concert Hall. For more details about the upcoming program, you can visit their website.
Edited by Reid McEvoy and Stuti Khadka
