Announcing Our 2022/23 Season!
Experience the powerful symphonic sound of Northshore Concert Band in our 2022/23 Season — a celebration of new beginnings, a retrospective on traditional wind band repertoire, and a glimpse into the brilliant, diverse future of classical music. You won’t want to miss this exciting new chapter in NCB history!
The 2022/23 Season is the Band’s most diverse to date, with each concert highlighting the works of underrepresented communities, cultures, and perspectives in classical music — Jennifer Higdon’s Mysterium and Benjamin Horne’s Deep River among them. Ten works will receive their first NCB performance, including Carlos Simon’s Sweet Chariot (2019), Ulysses Kay’s Solemn Prelude (1950), Kimberly Archer’s Fanfare Politeia (2021), David Maslanka’s Traveler (2003), and John Philip Sousa’s The Belle of Chicago (1892).
Our season opens on Sunday, November 6, 2022, at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall in Evanston, Illinois with Variations on America. This exploration of dramatically different realizations of the American dream through music includes thought-provoking works spanning more than a century. Charles Ives’ witty and irreverent title work opens the program, taking the audience through musical twists and turns on the familiar tune “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee.” Works by African American composers take center stage, including Carlos Simon’s Sweet Chariot, a sensuous melding of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” with Gregorian plainchant. Requiem for the Unarmed, Kevin Day’s memorial to the countless Black lives lost due to racial injustice, illustrates the composer’s response to the death of George Floyd through chilling, obfuscated harmonies and subtle nods to “Dido’s Lament” and Mozart’s Requiem. Premiered in the segregated South of 1950, Ulysses Kay’s Solemn Prelude is a lamenting, contrapuntal work that uses simple musical motifs to explore rich harmonies and textures unique to wind ensembles. The music of Kay’s teacher, Paul Hindemith’s monumental Symphony in B-flat, closes the program with its bombastic Fugue, the chittering woodwinds abruptly silenced by the brass and percussion with a powerful final cadence.
On February 19, 2023, we return to the Pick-Staiger Concert Hall for our celebrated Lifetime of Music concert. This program highlights the perspectives of some of the earliest recorded composers to emerging talents of today. Included is Illinois native Kimberly Archer’s Fanfare Politeia, commissioned by “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band for the 59th Presidential Inauguration, which pays homage to the origins of democracy in the writings of Aristotle and Plato. A group of outstanding middle school students joins us on stage for our annual side-by-side performance, featuring the music of Katahj Copley, James Barnes, and Thomas Duffy.
On April 16, 2023 we celebrate our new partnership with Loyola Academy! Festive Beginning marks the Band’s subscription debut at the Leemputte Family Theater in Wilmette, Illinois. Celebratory and compelling pieces herald the beginning of this new partnership, including works by Dmitri Shostakovich, Jennifer Higdon, and Howard Hanson. The program includes many American favorites including Morton Gould’s spirited American Salute, based on the Civil War-era song “When Johnny Comes Marching Home.”
Combining all things American, from baseball to Broadway and everything in between, American Celebration closes our 67th season in spectacular form. Bright, uplifting, and joyous, baseball-fanatic Carolyn Bremer’s Early Light draws upon her anticipation at hearing the national anthem before ball games. The saxophone section steps into the spotlight for Benjamin Horne’s sumptuous setting of “Deep River,” with soulful solos scored for the entire section. From the baseball diamond straight into the theater, Warren Barker’s sensational arrangement of some of George Gershwin’s most famous works, including An American in Paris and Rhapsody in Blue, kicks off the second half of our program. 76 Trombones lead the way in selections from The Music Man, followed by highlights from Star Wars, masterfully arranged by Donald Hunsberger. Our American Celebration culminates with John Philip Sousa’s salute to the lovely ladies of the Windy City, The Belle of Chicago.
Visit northshoreband.org/subscribe to learn more about our 2022/23 Season and subscribe today!
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