MUSIC

This exciting Anniversary Celebration Band Concert by the Metropolitan Wind Symphony will open with the winner of the MWS fanfare competition, Joseph Eidson’s To Those Who Fly. Dmitri Shostakovitch’s Festive Overture will be the first major work on this festive occasion, followed by Eric Whitacre’s lovely October. Elisabeth Axtell, the winner of the MWS’ annual Member Solo Competition will perform Paul Dukas’ compelling and exciting Villanelle for horn and wind ensemble. A guest conducting appearance by longtime MWS friend Tom Everett, of Harvard University will follow. Tom has chosen to conduct Karel Husa’s Smetana Fanfare and Thomas Duffy’s And Flights of Angels Sing Thee to thy Rest - dedicated to MWS founder, Jerry Gardner. MWS Music Director Lewis Buckley’s Con Sabor Español will close the first half. Following intermission, over two dozen MWS alumni will join in the fun, beginning with the final piece in the MWS’ very first concert 40 years ago, Charles Ives’ Variations on America. They will then swing into Bernstein’s joyous Three Dances from On the Town, followed by the concert’s closing selection, Alfred Reed’s moving and exciting Armenian Dances, Part I.