Emmie Boese
Lantern Staff
The instrumental department will perform their first concert of the year on Thursday, Oct. 4 and Friday, Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m. This concert will feature every group of the instrumental department. The instrumental department has two major departmental concerts per year, one in the fall and spring. This upcoming concert will feature 80 students.
“This is our full departmental concert for the instrumental department,” Professor of Instrumental Music Brett Martinez said. “We’ll have our jazz ensemble, are show band, three chamber ensembles, right now we have a brass ensemble, a clarinet and flute ensemble, and we have our concert band.”
He also said he likes to keep the concerts at a decent length.
“I try to program our concerts, so we are right around 90 minutes, from the first piece to the last,” Martinez said.
There is no specific theme for this concert.
“We are playing a high – energy opener called ‘Pegasus’,” Martinez said. “The other two are concert band masterworks, Elegy for a Young American and First Suite in E flat for Military Band.”
The additional groups of the instrumental department will be performing later this semester.
“Now the concert band and the jazz ensemble will also be playing a Celebration of Freedom concert on Sunday, Nov. 11,” Martinez said. “The chamber ensemble has separate chamber recitals, as well that are on the calendar. This fall we will have a woodwind recital, and then a combined brass and percussion recital.”
Freshman Anna Fleming will play in the concert band for the upcoming concert. Fleming plays the alto saxophone and is looking forward to playing in the upcoming concert.
“I am looking forward to playing the challenging music,” Fleming said. “It wasn’t as hard in high school.”
Sophomore Austin Patterson will also be playing in the concert band. Patterson plays the euphonium and is excited about the songs the concert band will be playing.
“I’m looking forward to our awesome song selections finally coming to fruition,” Patterson said.
The instrumental department will perform at the theater in the 700 building on the El Dorado campus.