Fredonia Wind Ensemble to give N.Y. premiere of ‘Made in America’ at season’s final concert

The Fredonia Wind Ensemble will close its year with an exciting program showcasing the New York premiere of Joan Tower’s “Made In America,” transcribed by Master Gunnery Sgt. Don Patterson of “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, at a concert on Sunday, April 28, at 4 p.m.

The featured work is based on “America, the Beautiful,” so the Wind Ensemble will perform the Carmen Dragon arrangement as a prelude to Ms. Tower’s composition.

Opening the concert will be Cindy McTee’s “Fanfare” from “Soundings,” followed by the epic Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments by Igor Stravinsky, which will feature Fr. Sean Duggan, coordinator of the Fredonia Piano area. “Sean is a phenomenal pianist and coordinator of our piano faculty,” explained School of Music Professor Paula Holcomb, director of the wind ensemble, “and we are honored to have him join us on the Stravinsky piano concerto.”

The final selection, “Symphony No. 2 Voices,” by James Stephenson, will feature soprano Lisa Layman, lecturer of Voice in the School of Music and executive director of the Western New York Chamber Orchestra. The composition is an exploration of many voices that result in a kind of concerto for wind ensemble. Its culmination is a unified voice that brings together all the different cultures and individual voices of the wind ensemble to express an amassed vision of hope and love.

The concert, in King Concert Hall, is free and open to the public.