Allegheny College Wind Symphony To Perform Wide Range of Works in Free Concert

Nov. 12, 2012 — The Allegheny College Wind Symphony and Wind Ensemble will present a fall concert on Sunday, Nov. 18 at 3:15 p.m. in the college’s Shafer Auditorium. The Saxophone Ensemble and the Flute Ensemble will provide pre-concert music in the Campus Center lobby. Admission is free.

The ensemble is under the direction of Professor of Music Lowell Hepler. The featured clarinet soloist for the concert is senior music major Emily Taylor.

The Wind Symphony is a 90-member symphonic band, with membership open by audition to all Allegheny College students. The Allegheny ensembles in past years have toured the eastern, southern and midwestern United States. Wind Symphony students have been honored at the state level through acceptance to the Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Band and at the national level through acceptance to the National Small College Intercollegiate Band and the National Wind Ensemble at Carnegie Hall.

Sunday’s program features the “First Suite in Eb” by Gustav Holst, widely considered to be one of the greatest works ever written for symphonic band, and “Angels in the Architecture” by Frank Ticheli, a relatively new work, written by one of the foremost contemporary composers of band literature. A musical depiction of the struggle between good and evil, Ticheli’s work makes use of novel instruments and effects. Breana Gallagher, a 2011 graduate of Maplewood High School, will be a featured vocal soloist.

Henry Fillmore’s “Lightning Fingers” showcases a clarinet solo by Emily Taylor, a senior music major and psychology minor who is a student of Professor Julie Hepler. Taylor has served as concertmaster of the Wind Symphony for three years and of the Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Band for the past two years. She also was a member of the 2011 National Small College Intercollegiate Band.

The program also features “Italian Rhapsody,” a lighthearted work by Julie Giroux; “Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves,” by Michael Kamen, arranged by Paul Lavender; and “Up the Street March” by Robert G. Morse.

Professor of music and director of bands at Allegheny College, Lowell Hepler is a frequent guest conductor for music festivals ranging from County through All-State levels. He is Principal Tuba with the Erie Philharmonic Orchestra and the Lake Erie Ballet Company.

Hepler has served as president of the Pennsylvania Collegiate Bandmasters Association and the Pennsylvania Chapter of Phi Beta Mu, Honorary Bandmasters Fraternity. He has also served as the Pennsylvania state chair of the College Band Directors National Association. In 2010 he was honored with the Nu Chapter, Phi Beta Mu Bandmaster of the Year Award.