Centenary Wind Ensemble to perform Fall 2025 concert
The Centenary Wind Ensemble performs its Fall 2025 concert “The Band Goes Spelunking” on Sunday, November 2 at 7:30pm in Anderson Auditorium. The concert is free and open to the public.
As part of Centenary College’s bicentennial celebratory year, the Hurley Orchestra brass section will open the concert with longtime former director of bands Thomas Stone’s “Bicentennial Fanfare.” The program features works by J. S. Bach, Felix Mendelssohn, American icon Charles Ives, and much more. Bach’s “Chaconne,” originally for solo violin, is a transcription of a transcription! Bach’s original was made into a solo piano work by early 20th century composer Ferruccio Busoni. The band transcription by Larry Daehn is from 1988. Mendelssohn’s “Fingal’s Cave” is a challenging arrangement based on Mendelssohn’s trip as a young man to the Hebrides Islands. The music captures the wind and waves at sea as well as the remoteness of these picturesque islands off the Atlantic coast of Scotland. Ives’ march “They Are There” is a patriotic but raucous march written as the United States entered into World War I. The unusual and mysterious “Cave of the Winds” by Russell Peck continues the spelunking exploration, depicting a strange Plato-like scenario of cave dwellers who have lost their sight and communicate through music, very retro 1970s.
On a lighter note, 1950s composer and arranger David Rose’s “Holiday for Flutes” offers some musical fluff from the College’s fine flute section. The ensemble performs “The Birth of Kije” from Sergei Prokofiev’s Lieutenant Kije Suite. Lt. Kije is a fictitious soldier created when the Russian Tsar mistakes an errant pen stroke for a soldier’s name and his staff, knowing the Tsar cannot be wrong, has to make up a life to go along with the name. The music depicts Kije’s birth, falling in love, and a wild sleigh ride. When the Tsar insists on meeting this heroic officer, the staff has to inform the tsar that he has been “killed” in battle! Other works by George Kenny and Percy Grainger round out the program.
The Centenary Wind Ensemble, directed by Thomas Hundemer, performs challenging works from the wind and band repertoire and is made up of students, faculty and interested professionals and teachers in the greater Shreveport-Bossier area. Anyone interested in performing should contact Mr. Hundemer at thundemer@centenary.edu or call 318.869.5235.