Wind Symphony and Wind Ensemble To Perform in Concert: Senior Brandon Staley Will Be Soloist

April 22, 2013 — The Allegheny College Wind Symphony and Wind Ensemble will present their 2013 spring concert on Sunday, April 28 at 3:15 p.m. in Shafer Auditorium. Admission is free. Both ensembles are under the direction of Professor of Music Lowell Hepler. The soloist will be senior alto saxophonist and music major Brandon Staley.

The Wind Symphony is a 90-member symphonic band, with membership open by audition to all Allegheny College students. In addition to their campus concerts, the Allegheny ensembles in past years have toured the eastern, southern and midwestern United States. The Wind Ensemble is a 40-member ensemble auditioned from the Wind Symphony.

Sunday’s program will open with Diero’s “Trieste Overture,” followed by Holsinger’s “On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss,” which will be offered in memory of the late Robert Cupper. A professor of computer science and economics at Allegheny who had taught at the college since 1977, Cupper was a longtime supporter of music at the college.

Assistant Professor of Music Jennifer Dearden will conduct Ives’ “Variations on America,” followed by Brandon Staley as soloist performing John Williams’ “Catch Me If You Can.”

The Wind Ensemble will then take the stage to perform the first movement of Dvorak’s “Serenade in D Minor” and Alfred Reed’s “Armenian Dances.”

The Wind Symphony will return for the final portion of the program, beginning with the first movement of “Ghost Train” by Eric Whitacre. Percy Grainger’s “Children’s March” will follow, and the program will conclude with Sousa’s “Semper Fidelis March.”

Brandon Staley, from Niles, Ohio, is a saxophone student of Assistant Professor of Music Julie Hepler. A music major and political science minor at Allegheny, Staley has participated in many of the college’s musical ensembles and has written music for and conducted his own woodwind choir as part of his senior project.

For the past three years, he earned the principal chair for the Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Band. He plans to attend the Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University to study music education and saxophone.

Lowell Hepler is professor of music and director of bands at Allegheny College. He has served as guest conductor for music festivals ranging from County through All-State levels.

Hepler is principal tuba with the Erie Philharmonic Orchestra and the Lake Erie Ballet Company. He has served as president of the Pennsylvania Collegiate Bandmasters Association and past-president of the Pennsylvania Chapter of Phi Beta Mu, Honorary Bandmasters Fraternity. He has also served as the Pennsylvania chair for the College Band Directors National Association. Hepler was the 2010 recipient of Phi Beta Mu’s Pennsylvania Bandmaster of the Year Award.