Home > Organization Directory > Organization Detail

• SHARE
• Tell A Friend
• Feedback

• Tell-a-friend
• Official Website

Metropolitan Wind Symphony

Founded by Jerry Gardner in 1971, the Metropolitan Wind Symphony is currently celebrating its 38th anniversary. The MWS comprises over 70 talented woodwind, brass, and percussion instrumentalists who audition for membership and seating. It makes a significant contribution to the cultural life of the Greater Boston community by providing its audiences with high quality concerts and its members with opportunities for musical growth. The MWS presents formal performances of traditional and contemporary wind band literature, as well as more informal pops concerts throughout the metropolitan Boston area. Members rehearse Wednesdays from September through June, traveling from more than 30 communities in Massachusetts and neighboring states. All volunteers, they also pursue careers as varied as education, engineering, computer science, medicine, law, music, and public health.

The MWS Commissioning Fund, begun through an anonymous endowment, allows the MWS to actively contribute to the wind band literature by annually commissioning new works. Our commissioning program has included four categories of composers. These include internationally-known composers James Curnow, Johan de Meij, Elliot Del Borgo, Peter Schickele, and Guy Woolfenden. Massachusetts composers include Allen Feinstein, Peter Hazzard, Marjorie Merryman, and Greg Tucker. Emerging composers include David Dzubay, John Heins, and Greg Sanders. Recently, the MWS commissioned its first student composers, Hayato Hirose, Noah Taylor, and Jesse Brault, whose pieces premiered in 2005 and 2007. Many of these works have been published and have been performed in the United States and abroad by other wind ensembles.

The Boston Festival of Bands, founded by the MWS in 1989, includes bands from New England, the Atlantic states, and Canada. The Festival is celebrated annually at historic Faneuil Hall in Boston on the first Saturday in June. The Continuum series, also founded by the MWS, involves middle and high school bands, and New England university bands in educational interaction and outreach. Continuum 2007 was held at Sanders Theatre, Harvard University, where the MWS joined the Lexington High School Wind Ensemble and the Harvard University Wind Ensemble. In April 2005, the MWS, at the invitation of the New England College Band Association, performed at their Gordon College conference. The MWS has been heard on WGBH, WBUR and WCRB.

• At-a-
  Glance

  • Contact Info

    Metropolitan Wind Symphony

    62 Mossdale Road
    Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

    Phone: 617 983-1370

    Email

    Official Website

• Current &
  Upcoming Events

  • Current Events

    There are no current events available for this organization at this time.

  • Upcoming Events

    There are no upcoming events available for this organization at this time.

• Past
  Events

  • Past Events

    07/08/10- 07/29/10	MWS Concerts in the Park Hastings Park Bandstand MWS Concerts in the Park Presented by Metropolitan Wind Symphony at Hastings Park Bandstand July 8-July 29, 2010 The Metropolitan Wind Symphony will perform 4 Free traditional outdoor Band Concerts on Thursday July 8, 15, 22, and 29, from 7:30 to 8:30 pm, at Hastings Park, Levi Burnell Bandstand, Mass. Ave. and Worthen Road, Lexington, MA. MWS Music director Lewis J. Buckley will conduct the varied music programs, which will have something for all tastes. Selections will include Selections from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein, Blue Tango by Leroy Anderson, A Tribute to Irving Berlin, The Music...
    06/05/10	Boston Festival of Bands Faneuil Hall Boston Festival of Bands Presented by Metropolitan Wind Symphony at Faneuil Hall June 5, 2010 The Metropolitan Wind Symphony, which founded the Boston Festival of Bands, will host the 22nd annual Boston Festival of Bands at historic Faneuil Hall (adjacent to Quincy Market) in Boston on Saturday, June 5, 2010 from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The bands will play selections ranging from Broadway show music to Sousa marches to classical music. There will be music to please all tastes! Come hear a different concert band play each hour. It is a FREE band concert.
    05/16/10	MWS Band Concert: "Lots of Guests" National Heritage Museum MWS Band Concert: "Lots of Guests" Presented by Metropolitan Wind Symphony at National Heritage Museum May 16, 2010 At this band concert, along with many unique pieces, you’ll also see and hear many talented guests. In addition to such classic band works as Chance’s Symphony No. 2 and Malcolm Arnold’s Four Scottish Dances, you will also hear the world premiere of the MWS’ latest commissioning project. Conductor Lewis Buckley has written a piece, Capriccio for Solo Trumpet and Tuba, to honor two important contributors to MWS’ music-making over the years, former Assistant...
    03/07/10	MWS Band Concert: Conductor's Favorites National Heritage Museum MWS Band Concert: Conductor's Favorites Presented by Metropolitan Wind Symphony at National Heritage Museum March 7, 2010 Conductor Lewis J. Buckley has picked a number of his personal favorites for this program. He first played Adler’s Southwestern Sketches as a student at the Eastman School of Music, and both Alfred Reed’s exciting Russian Christmas Music and the thrilling Finale to Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 are longtime staples in his programming. The MWS’ annual Member Soloist Competition winner will perform, and the program will close with Steven Reineke’s brilliant and...
    02/28/10	A Continuum (band) Concert A.J. Gordon Memorial Chapel A Continuum (band) Concert Presented by Metropolitan Wind Symphony at A.J. Gordon Memorial Chapel February 28, 2010 The Gordon College Wind Ensemble will be joined by the North Shore Youth Wind Ensemble and the Metropolitan Wind Symphony in a "Continuum" concert, where musicians from different levels of expertise (high school. college and adult professional) will join forces in an afternoon of band music. The concert will be held Sunday Feb. 28., 2010, at 3 pm at Gordon College, A.J. Gordon Memorial Chapel, 255 Grapevine Road, Wenham, MA. The Northshore Youth Wind Ensemble will perform Yosemite...
    11/15/09	Metropolitan Wind Symphony Band Concert: Welcome Back, David National Heritage Museum Metropolitan Wind Symphony Band Concert: Welcome Back, David Presented by Metropolitan Wind Symphony at National Heritage Museum November 15, 2009 The Metropolitan Wind Symphony, New England's premier concert band, led by Music Director Lewis J. Buckley, will open its 39th exciting season. MWS Conductor Emeritus David J. Martins will make a return to our podium, conducting Joseph Wilcox Jenkins’ American Overture for Band, a classic band work. The remainder of the concert will be characterized by variety rather than a unifying theme. You’ll hear movie music by John Williams; Michael Daugherty’s exciting Bells for...
    07/09/09- 07/30/09	Metropolitan Wind Symphony Outdoor Band Concert Hastings Park Bandstand Metropolitan Wind Symphony Outdoor Band Concert Presented by Metropolitan Wind Symphony at Hastings Park Bandstand July 9-July 30, 2009 The Metropolitan Wind Symphony, a 60-piece by-audition concert band, will perform four free outdoor concerts on Thursday nights in July, beginning on the 9th, at the Hastings Park Bandstand, Massachusetts Ave and Worthen Road. These concerts, Lexington Thursdays with MWS, will run, weather permitting, from 7:30 to 8:30 pm on July 9, July 16, July 23, and July 30. Continuing the long and proud tradition he was part of by conducting hundreds of high quality free outdoor concerts for 29 years...

• Media
  Reviews

  • Media Reviews

    There are currently no media reviews for this organization.

• Member
  Reviews

  • Member Reviews

    There are currently no member reviews for this organization.