Font ResizeSenior Jonathan Kipp is the percussion soloist for “Concerto for Percussion and Small Orchestra” by French composer Darius Milhaud, (pronounced, mee-yo). Rarely performed in Humboldt County, Kenneth Ayoob, conductor of the HSU Symphonic Band added that “It's a dramatic work that stresses the interplay between the band and the soloist.” The work was composed between 1929 and 1930.
Influenced by early American jazz, Milhaud was among the 20th century's most prolific composers in a league with Igor Stravinsky, Paul Hindemith and Béla Bartók. He is probably best known for his ballet score, “La création du monde” (Creation of the World), composed in 1923, his first work to reflect jazz influences. Milhaud was also noted as a teacher; his students include jazz pianist Dave Brubeck and contemporary composer Philip Glass, though Milhaud is not thought of as a jazz or minimalist composer.
Other works included on the program will include “Psalm for Band” by Vincent Persichetti. “It's one of the cornerstones of the band repertoire,” Ayoob said. “It uses the separate choirs of instruments extensively supported by thematic rhythms in the percussion.”
Armenian Dances by Alfred Reed--another prolific and popular American composer is built upon 15 folk songs. According to Ayoob, the work evokes many moods from a soulful ballad to driving asymmetric meters, “and fully exploits the colors of the wind band.”
The Symphonic Band will also perform Fortress by contemporary American composer Frank Ticheli, Pas Redouble by modern French composer Camille Saint-Saens and The Gallant Seventh by John Philip Sousa.
In a reprise from its early fall concert, the HSU Symphonic Band once again presents “Cartoon” by Paul Hart, a merry melody that conjures the action of classic chase cartoons starring the Roadrunner, Bugs Bunny and Tweety.
Tickets for the Dec. 4 concert are $7 General, $3 Students/Seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office at 826-3928, or at the door. Free to HSU students with ID.
