Celebrating the 100th birthday of American composer, conductor, pianist, and arranger Morton Gould, the Pensacola Civic Band performs pieces that will capture and enthrall. The concert features guest artist Joshua Bledsoe on the Trombone.
We begin the concert with the popular “Fanfare for Freedom. Next is the famed “American Salute,” a short set of variations on the Civil War song When Johnny Comes Marching Home. The next piece on the program is “Pavanne.” Gould’s treatment of the style is a saucy saunter with a swing of the hips. A jazzy walk that will make you tap your toe. We conclude the first half with Eric Whitacre’s “October,” a rich serenade full of beautiful melodies and warm harmonies, and Julie Giroux’s “Speed of Heat,” a musical depiction of the adventures of an F-22 Raptor fighter pilot. Rambunctious and dare devilish in nature, this work takes the listener through a series of events which are all based on fighter pilot “slang.”
We start the second half with a concert march unlike any march you’ve heard before in John Mackey’s “Xerxes.” “Silence Overwhelmed” is driven by complex harmonies and textures as the music constantly moves between moments of tranquility and massive power. We end the concert with a trombone piece by Daner featuring soloist Joshua Bledsoe and Morton Gould’s “Jericho Rhapsody,” a musical depiction of the tumbling walls in the Biblical story Joshua and the Walls of Jericho.
The concert begins at 7:30 pm, October 26th, at the Pensacola Saenger Theatre, 118 S Palafox Place. Tickets are $10. For more information about tickets, please contact the Lyceum Box Office at Pensacola State College, 850.484.1847.