UW Wind Symphony and LHS Band to Present ‘O Fortuna’ April 12

The University of Wyoming Department of Music's Wind Symphony and the Laramie High School (LHS) band will present "O Fortuna" at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 12, in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts concert hall.

Tickets are $17 for the public, $13 for senior citizens and $9 for students. A nominal processing fee will be charged for each ticket. To purchase tickets, visit the Performing Arts box office, call (307) 766-6666 or go online at www.tix.com/ticket-sales/uwyo/6984.

The LHS band, directed by Brian Redmond, will open the first half of the concert with selections that reveal the ancient elements of fire, air, water and earth. The opening piece is Robert Smith's composition "The Inferno," which takes its inspiration from Dante's "Divine Comedy." The piece features soloists Gabe Armstrong, alto sax; Marley Giesinger, piccolo; Emily Gull, timpani; and Henry Kordon, trumpet.

Next is "Air From County Derry," an arrangement of the well-known Irish folk song "Danny Boy" by Joseph Kreines. The LHS band will close with Randall Standridge's "Iron and Ice," which serves double duty as "water" and "earth" elements and depicts the stages of a Viking expedition.

UW's Wind Symphony, conducted by Department of Music Assistant Professor Matthew Schlomer, will open the second half of the concert with Paul Dukas' "La Péri Fanfare," a longtime favorite written originally for orchestra brass adapted for concert band. Next is Libby Larsen's "Ursa," featuring a tuba solo by Eminent Artist-in-Residence Cristina Cutts. The piece is titled after the bear constellation.

The concert concludes with an arrangement of Carl Orff's epic "Carmina Burana," based on medieval poems. The work ponders life's most essential topics, such as fate, romance and springtime.

Cutts, the principal tuba of the Phoenix Symphony, grew up in South Africa, England, New York and New Mexico. She has served as principal tuba/guest tubist with numerous ensembles and as guest artist or faculty member for prominent festivals and institutions, and is a National YoungArts Foundation Medalist.

For more information, call Kathy Kirkaldie, UW Fine Arts coordinator, at (307) 766-2160 or email kirisk@uwyo.edu.