UW Wind Symphony to Present ‘Angels in the Architecture’ Nov. 22

The University of Wyoming Wind Symphony will present "Angels in the Architecture" at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22, 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 program provides a musical space to consider the themes of justice, reconciliation and virtue from several vantage points over the course of history and among various cultures.

The concert opens with "Fantasia in G" by J.S. Bach. First composed for organ to be played at a church service, the piece was transcribed for winds and percussion and has become a wind band classic. Michael Colgrass's piece, "Bali," inspired by his two summers living in Ubud, the arts-and-crafts center of Bali, is a study of the creative and spiritual nature of the Balinese people.

Also, "Amazing Grace" by John Newton is among the best-known American spirituals, with a complex origin. Leonard Bernstein's "Overture to Candide" is a satirical opera based on a book by the French philosopher Voltaire, which poked fun at the idea that tragedy can be good. "Negative Split," by Roshanne Etezady, draws an analogy between female competitive swimmers and musicians, who are both driven by competition as well as by joy, and who also strive to exceed their own limitations while historically existing on the periphery of their chosen pursuits.

"Negative Split" features soloist Carrie Koffman, alto saxophone, who teaches at The Hartt School of Music, Dance and Theater at the University of Hartford and at the Yale School of Music.

The concert closes with the titular work "Angels in the Architecture," composed by Frank Ticheli and inspired by the Sydney Opera House, with its halo-shaped acoustical ornaments hanging directly above the performance stage. The piece unfolds as a dramatic conflict between the two extremes of human existence, one divine and the other evil. The song is bookended by a single singer -- the "angel" -- singing a 19th century Shaker song.

For more information, call Kathy Kirkaldie, UW Fine Arts coordinator, at (307) 766-2160 or email [email protected].