The University of Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and the Symphonic Wind Ensemble performed in Ruth Lilly Performance Hall on Nov. 12 at 7:30 p.m.
The Chamber Orchestra opened the performance with “Concertino in E-flat Major, Op. 26,” composed by Carl Maria von Weber.
UIndy Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Bands Vu Nguyen conducted, and David Bellman, principal clarinet of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, accompanied.
Following the full Chamber Orchestra was the smaller group of the UIndy Concerto Soloists. The group performed “Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major, D. 485,” composed by Franz Schubert.
According to the program, the Weber and Schubert pieces were composed about five years apart and “find their origin during a time of tremendous change in the musical and cultural landscape of Europe.”
The program also mentioned that these pieces were composed not long after the deaths of two of the most revered Western composers of that time, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Joseph Haydn.
“As if proven by the nearly two hundred years of success held by both of these works, Weber and Schubert seem in no way hindered by any prior compositional legacy,” according to the program.
The UIndy Concerto Soloists were followed by the UIndy Symphonic Wind Ensemble.
The first piece the Symphonic Wind Ensemble performed was “Tribute to Rudy Wiedoeft,” arranged by Gunther Schuller.
During this piece, UIndy Faculty Adjunct of Music Scotty Stepp accompanied the Symphonic Wind Ensemble on the alto saxophone.
According to the program, Rudy Wiedoeft was a household name during the 1920s.
“He packed every major theater in this country and single-handedly started the saxophone craze that was to sweep the nation,” according to the program.
The ensemble next performed Viet Cuong’s “Sound and Smoke.” According to the program, Cuong said that the parenthetical titles of “Sound and Smoke,” which are “(feudal castle lights)” and “(avalanche of eyes),” are starting points for a person to interpret the music.
The Symphonic Wind Ensemble ended the event with a performance of “Danzón No. 2,” composed by Arturo Márquez. According to the program, Márquez said that the piece is a tribute to old Mexican dancing music.
“It [‘Danzón No. 2’] endeavors to get as close as possible to the dance, to its nostalgic melodies, to its wild rhythms, and although it violates its intimacy, its form and its harmonic language,” Márquez said in the program. “It is a very personal way of paying my respects and expressing my emotions towards truly popular music.”
Freshman marketing and international business major Danielle Power attended the concert because one of her friends was in it.
“I’m not a classical music person,” Power said. “I don’t know most of them [the songs]. It just all sounds pretty to me.”
Freshman human biology major Samantha Keith attended the concert because she also knew someone in it.
“The last song [“Danzón No. 2”] the wind ensemble played was awesome,” Keith said.
Keith also enjoyed “Sound and Smoke,” saying that she had never heard anything like it.
The next concert in the Ruth Lilly Performance Hall will be the UIndy Percussion Ensemble. The concert will be on Nov. 30 at 7:30 p.m.
