The Santa Fe Wind Ensemble and Santa Fe Hand Drummers will present their academic year-end “Spring Winds & Drums” concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 5, 2016, in the Fine Arts Hall at the Northwest Campus, 3000 NW 83 Street, Gainesville.
Tickets are $15 main floor and $12 balcony for adults; $9 for seniors, children and University of Florida students; and free for Santa Fe College faculty, staff and students with college identification cards. For ticket information, call the Box Office at 352-395-4181 or visit the Fine Arts ticket website at:
http://www.sfcollege.edu/finearts
Music Professor and Band Director Steve Bingham, Ph.D., directs the Wind Ensemble. Music Professor Leon Larson, who has been drumming for more than 50 years and was inspired by Babatundi Olatunji, the Nigerian drumming master who founded Drums of Passion, directs the Hand Drummers.
The Wind Ensemble will open the concert with a traditional march followed by a new, high-energy composition, “Burn” by Roland Barrett, that features the percussion section.
Also on the program are:
- A tribute to George Gershwin, one of America’s greatest popular songwriters, that includes: “I Got Rhythm”; “S’ Wonderful”; “Embraceable You”; “Fascinating Rhythm”; “The Man I Love”; “But Not for Me”; “How Long Has This Been Going On?”; “Oh, Lady Be Good”; “Someone to Watch Over Me”; “Swanee”; and “Rhapsody in Blue.”
- Alexander Scriabin’s “Rhapsody,” featuring clarinetist Kristin Hunt on solos.
- “Drums of the Saamis” by Samuel Hazo, with tribal drums and a haunting melody that represent the musical and historical foundations of the region of Alberta, Canada.
- Another piece by Samuel Hazo to be played in the style of a slow Southern folk hymn, similar to “Amazing Grace” or “”
- “El Camino Real,” a standard for advanced wind ensembles composed by Alfred Reed that is a favorite of the wind band players for its melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic combinations.
A reception in the Fine Arts Hall lobby will follow the concert.
“Spring Winds & Drums” is sponsored in part by the SF College Fine Arts Department and the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture and Visit Gainesville, a Tourist Development Tax Grant from the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners in conjunction with the Alachua County Tourist Development Council.
For more information about “Spring Winds & Drums,” call Steve Bingham at 352-281-4035.
For more information about the SF College Fine Arts programs or the Fine Arts Hall, call Fine Arts Department Chairperson Alora Haynes at 352-395-5296.