The Williams Symphonic Winds to Perform “Yo Shakespeareâ€
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - The Williams Symphonic Winds will give a concert on Saturday, May 9, at 8 p.m. in Chapin Hall on the Williams College campus.This free event is open to the public.
The concert features works that reinterpret the lives of mythical and historical individuals (from a Renaissance dutchess to Shakespeare and the cast of Othello) and that re-contextualize our existence in today’s postmodern world. Music by Michael Gordon, Daron Hagen, Reynoaldo Hahn, Arvo Pärt, and featuring the premieres of a new work by Brian Simalchik '10 and a Senior Honors Thesis by Sarah Riskind '09. The ensemble also celebrates the life of the influential composer-conductor Lukas Foss (1922-2009) by performing his Elegy, a work commissioned and premiered by the Symphonic Winds in 2002.
The Williams Symphonic Winds is a 60-member ensemble dedicated to performing the most significant music written for the chamber and large wind ensemble mediums in provocative concerts. Now in his ninth year as Music Drector, Steven Dennis Bodner has developed the ensemble's identity as a leading proponent of the performance of new music on campus. The ensemble has commisioned and premiered a number of works by contemporary composers, including Williams students, alumni, and faculty.
Recognized as one of the premier wind ensembles in New England, the Symphonic Winds performed at the 2006 College Band Directors National Association Eastern Division Conference. In recent years, the Symphonic Winds has been noted both for its adventurous and creative programming and for the quality of its performance, described as "astounding" by critic-composer Barton McLean and "amazingly good" by the composer Louis Andriessen.
Senior Recital: Scott Smedinghoff '09, organ
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - The Williams College Department of Music will present a Senior Recital featuring Scott Smedinghoff on Saturday, May 9, at 4 p.m. in Thompson Memorial Chapel.
This free event is open to the public.
Smedinghoff will be playing Wondrous Love: Variations on a Shape-note Hymn, Op. 34 by Samuel Barber; Sonata in F Minor, opus. 65, no. 1 by Felix Mendelssohn; Choral No. 2 in B minor by César Franck; and Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 582 by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Scott is a Math and Physics major at Williams. He has been playing the piano since he was four and started playing the organ five years ago after attending a Pipe Organ Encounter sponsored by the American Guild of Organists. He has been taking organ lessons with Ed Lawrence for all four of his years at Williams.
He is very active in the music department, singing in both Concert Choir and Chamber Choir, and playing timpani, keyboards, and other assorted percussion in Symphonic Winds, Student Symphony, and Percussion Ensemble.
