Concert Preview - Knightwind Ensemble

The new Music Director for the Knightwind Ensemble, Dr. Erik Janners of Marquette University, has passed on some of the music the Ensemble will perform at their November 21 concert. For the record, the concert will be in the Schwan Concert Hall on the campus of Wisconsin Lutheran College. The entrance to the Concert Hall is about 88th and Wisconsin Avenue. The concert will begin at 3 PM.

Two favorite orchestral transcriptions will be included in the program: the movements Mars, The Bringer of War and Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity from Gustav Holst masterpiece, The Planets. It has been many years since Knightwind performed either of these two movements, and yet they remain a favorite of both the audience and the musicians.

It would not be a Knightwind Ensemble performance without some music from a contemporary composer. For the November concert, that composer is Martin Ellerby, and the music is his Dreamscapes. The music is impressions of areas outside reality, including Shangri-La and Xanado. The Ensemble has performed Mr. Ellerby's Paris Sketches in November of 2005.

Also on the program is Aspen Jubilee from composer Ron Nelson. His aim with the music was to show "...the stupendous beauty of the Rockies, in general, of blinding sunlight, of snow-covered peaks; of the frontier spirit of old Aspen with its brash, funny dynamism, its corny ragtag Fourth of July parades and firework displays."

You can reach the Knightwind Web Site at www.knightwind.org. By printing out the page for the next concert, you can receive a discount on concert tickets. Be sure to check it out. And be sure to mark your calendar for November 21. The concert will be a good one!