APPLETON, WIS. — The Lawrence University Wind Ensemble will be among a select group of featured performers March 13-15 at the College Band Directors National Association North Central Division Professional Conference at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Under the direction of Andrew Mast, assistant professor and director of bands, the Lawrence Wind Ensemble was one of six college ensembles in the 10-state region invited to perform at the conference. The invitations were based on audition tapes of live performance recordings from the 2006-07 academic year.
“The selection is done by peers who know and understand the difficulties and challenges of the repertoire,” said Mast. “It is always a special honor to be recognized by one’s colleagues and peers.
“The north central region is among, if not the, strongest region in the nation for college and university bands,” Mast added. “I’d compare it to winning the ACC title in college basketball versus winning the Patriot League. We are simply in a part of the country with more and better ensembles, so earning a conference invitation against that level of competition is very gratifying.”
The Lawrence Wind Ensemble will perform on Saturday afternoon in the Strauss Performing Arts Center, the last of the six invited ensembles to do so. The hour-long program will include “Early Light” by Carolyn Bremer, Yo Goto’s “Lachrymae,” “Sunan Dances” by Dorothy Chang, “Frenzy” by Andrew Boysen and “Prevailing Wings” a work written by former Lawrence faculty member Rodney Rogers in 1983 for Bob Levy and the wind ensemble.
“Getting to perform on the last day of the conference in a marquee time slot was like icing on the cake,” said Mast.
Putting together the program for the conference proved to be both a joy and a challenge.
“I attempted to represent the widest possible swath of wind band repertoire I could in an hour program,” Mast said. “There is variety in the composers’ gender, ethnic background and style. I also wanted to present a unified journey from the beginning to the end of the program that takes listeners and performers through the entire gamut of emotions — joy, celebration, mourning, passion, vigor.”
Joining Lawrence as audition-selected performers at the conference will be the Drake University Wind Symphony, the Northwestern University Symphonic Band, the University of St. Thomas Symphonic Wind Ensemble, the UW-Eau Claire Wind Symphony and the Western Illinois University Symphonic Wind Ensemble.
“I am extraordinarily proud of the students and the hard work they have put into this program,” said Mast. “It has been an honor and a pleasure to prepare for the conference and I’m looking forward to showcasing Lawrence and our talented students.”
The College Band Directors National Association began its existence as a committee of the Music Educators National Conference in the 1930s and assumed its current organizational name in 1947. Members of the CBDNA are dedicated to the teaching, performance, study and cultivation of music, with particular focus on the wind band medium.
