USU Wind Orchestra Presents Fall Concert, 'Depressed Meets the West'

The Utah State University Wind Orchestra, under the direction of Thomas P. Rohrer, will perform its fall concert this week. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1, in the Daines Concert Hall on the USU Logan campus. Admission is free.

The title, “Depressed Meets the West,” refers to day-after-Halloween repertoire performed in tandem with overtly Western music, mostly from film scores. On the Halloween side are three pieces of sedate or dark nature, including the tone poem “Sequoia” by Homer LaGassey, “Tam O’Shanter” by Malcolm Arnold, and the suite “Beneath the Darkness” by Randol Bass.

Of particular note is “Tam O’Shanter,” which musically depicts the Scottish poem by Robert Burns about a drunken farmer who, while riding home late on a stormy night, disturbs a witches party and is subsequently chased by them through the darkness. Likewise, “Beneath the Darkness” uses musical themes written for (but not used in) a horror movie of the same title.

The emotional balance of the concert comes from three stereotypical contrasting movie theme pieces. First is music from the classic John Wayne western “The Cowboys.” Also included is the end title music from “Silverado,” written by Bruce Broughton, along with an overture of local flavor, “Transcontinental Union,” written as a tribute to those who the built the transcontinental railroad through Utah in 1869.

The Wind Orchestra, the flagship ensemble of the USU Bands, is a 50-member ensemble of the finest wind and percussion players in the school. The ensemble has earned at outstanding reputation in the region through invitation to four the College Band Directors National Association Western/Northwestern Division conferences since 2002 as well as the Utah Music Educators Convention.

On an international level, the group is responsible for the premieres of several works that began their American lives on the stages at USU. The ensemble plays the finest in contemporary wind and percussion music as well as time-tested standards from the band repertoire. The Wind Orchestra performs two concerts each semester, and entrance to the ensemble is gained by audition at the outset of each semester.

The USU Bands’ upcoming schedule includes the Aggie Marching Band’s “Sounds of the Stadium” concert on Nov. 22 as well as the Symphonic Band — featuring the Cache Wind Symphony — on Monday, Dec. 2, and the annual Tri-State Band Symposium Sampler and Finale Concerts on Dec. 6 and 7, respectively.

Please call (435) 797-3004 with any questions.