Wind Ensemble will perform at prestigious band director conference at Kauffman Center


Thu, 03/02/2017

author

Christine Metz Howard


LAWRENCE – Selected as one of the best college bands in the country, the University of Kansas Wind Ensemble will perform at the College Band Directors National Association biennial conference March 15 at the Kauffman Center for Performing Arts. 

The 71-member KU Wind Ensemble, led by Paul Popiel, and eight other top-rated collegiate bands from across the country will perform throughout the four-day event March 15-18 in Kansas City, Missouri. The nine bands were selected through a highly competitive, blind audition process where schools from around the country submitted recordings of their live concerts. 

“This is among the highest honors a college concert band can receive,” said Popiel, director of bands at the KU School of Music. “I’m thrilled our students have the opportunity to showcase the great things happening in the KU School of Music alongside some of the country’s best college bands.” 

The KU Wind Ensemble is composed of the most skilled wind and percussion players at the university. This will be the first time the KU Wind Ensemble has played at the CBDNA national conference. Other wind ensemble highlights under Popiel’s direction include the 2013 Carnegie Hall debut for the world premiere of “In the Shadow of No Towers,” which received a glowing review in The New York Times. The ensemble also performed for President Obama’s address on KU’s campus in January 2015. Earlier this month, the wind ensemble released its sixth commercial album, “Of Shadow and Light,” on the Klavier label.

The March 15 performance will be a shared concert with West Texas A&M University Symphonic Band. The concert will start at 7 p.m. with the KU Wind Ensemble performing after intermission, at about 8:10 p.m. The program will begin with Aaron Perrine’s “A Glimpse of the Eternal,” conducted by Matthew O. Smith, associate director of bands. The wind ensemble will also perform Olivier Messiaen’s “La Ville d’en-haut,” featuring piano soloist and doctoral student Han Wang. Joel Puckett’s “Knells for Bonnie” will showcase soloist Sarah Frisof, professor of flute. The program will end with Mohammed Fairouz’s “In the Shadow of No Towers,” a piece commissioned for the wind ensemble by Reach Out Kansas Inc. 

Tickets will be available to the public through the Kauffman Center box office.  For more information, go to kauffmancenter.org or call 816-994-7222.

The KU Wind Ensemble will perform a CBDNA-preview concert at 7:30 p.m. March 8 at the Lied Center of Kansas. For tickets and more information on that concert, go to lied.ku.edu or call 785-864-2787. 

FLUTE
Deborah Hass, Shawnee
Maddie Bert, St. Louis
Abbey Sigler, Overland Park
Emily Churchwell, DeSoto
Melissa Kilgard Flower Mound, Texas

OBOE/ENGLISH HORN
Matt Butterfield, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Elizabeth Phillips, McKinney, Texas
Shayna Hansen, Gretna, Nebraska
Cassidy Markley, Baldwin City

BASSOON
Sarah Vogts, Dakota Dunes, South Dakota
Louisa Slosar, Lexington, Massachusetts
Ryan Weaver, Double Oak, Texas
Kylie Hansen, Friendswood, Texas
Randall Himes, Keller, Texas
Daryn Zubke, Watford City, North Dakota

CLARINET
Hilary Lowery, Norman, Oklahoma
Richard Adger, Kansas City, Missouri
Lauren Walbert, Lenexa
Brendan Fairleigh, Olathe
Justin Harbaugh, Emporia
Juliana Hsu, Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Justin Kline, bass, Overland Park
Stacia Fortune, bass, Urbandale, Iowa
Andrew Novak, Taylor, Michigan

SAXOPHONE
Nick May, Lincoln, Nebraska
David Berrios, Lakewood, New Jersey
Noah Zoller, Olathe
Bennett Johnson, tenor, Victoria, Minnesota
Allyson Fabes, Staten Island, New York
Andre Womack, baritone, Olathe 

TRUMPET
Daniel Gerona, McKinney, Texas
Guangyu Dong, Beijing
Trent Warbis, Boise, Idaho
Jong Ho Kim, Seoul, South Korea
Anthony Messina, Warren, Michigan
Michael Raehpour, Andover
Robert Vandivier, Orlando,Florida
Miguel Cubero Navarro, San Jose, Costa Rica

HORN
Becca Lunstrum, Redfield, South Dakota
Evan Brown, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Caroline Strickfaden, McHenry, Illinois
Tristan Bartley, Lawrence
Brady O’Donnell, Kansas City, Missouri
Alexandria Rogers, Columbia, Missouri
Mariah Black, Beaumont, Texas
Katherine Young, Chesterfield, Missouri
Kenzie Kimble, Topeka


TROMBONE
Mark Sweeney, Durham, North Carolina
Ian Warshaw, Overland Park
Roy Schmeidler, Hays
Ben Cooper, Overland Park
Megann Lawrenz, Baldwin City
Grant Morgan, bass, Shawnee

EUPHONIUM
Josh Hugo, Rosemount, Minnesota
Kate Schau, Shawnee
Brett Keating, Madison, Wisconsin

TUBA
Max Gerhart, Columbus, Ohio
Brett Keating, Madison, Wisconsin
Chloe Gilligan, Lawrence
Evan Norkey, Olathe

HARP
Grace Clark, Lawrence

STRING BASS
Alex Loeb, Lawrence

PIANO
Jack Yarbrough, Birmingham, Alabama

PERCUSSION
Theodore Musick, Garden City
Johnathon Westcott, Copperas Cove, Texas
Lauren Molloy, Austin, Texas
Tanner Lynn, Lawrence
Alex Alfaro, Wildwood, Missouri
Jonathan Trudeau, Lake Zurich, Illinois
Tai-Jung Jackson, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Trevor Miller, Olathe

DOCTORAL CONDUCTING ASSISTANTS
Brooke Humfeld, Newark, Delaware
Anthony Messina, Warren, Michigan 
Nicholas Waldron, Hudson Ohio

Thu, 03/02/2017

author

Christine Metz Howard

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Christine Metz Howard

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