Winter Festival Band Concert set for Friday, Dec. 8

ASHLAND, Ohio – The Ashland University Symphonic Band and Ashland Area Community Concert Band are teaming up for their annual Winter Festival Band Concert, which will take place Friday, Dec. 8, at 7:30 p.m., at Hugo Young Theatre in the Center for the Arts. The concert is free and open to the public.

Each band will perform four-to-six pieces, conducted by Joseph Lewis Jr., director of bands at Ashland University.

The AU Symphonic Band, consisting of about 60 students from Ohio and across the U.S., features a high level of artistry and musicianship while performing a variety of literature. On the docket for Friday night are “Scarborough Fair,” a 1989 arrangement of a traditional English folk tune, “Piano Prelude No. 2” by legendary American composer George Gershwin and “Mephisto Masque (Polka Fantastique),” written by New Orleans native Edmond Dede who worked as a conductor and composer in France for nearly 40 years. The performance will also include a holiday medley in “Russian Christmas Music” by Alfred Reed.

The Ashland Area Community Concert Band, founded in 1993, is an ensemble that includes both university students and members of the community and performs a wide variety of literature from Broadway selections and classic marches to masterworks transcribed for concert band. Friday’s concert selections include “Overture for Winds,” “O Magnum Mysterium,” which depicts the birth of Jesus Christ, “Songs of Earth, Water, Fire, and Sky,” a symphonic work that examines the lives of Native Americans, “A Home Alone for Christmas,” featuring themes from the classic holiday comedy, “Sleigh Ride” and “Orange Bowl March,” a toe-tapping march by Henry Fillmore.

For more information, please contact Joseph Lewis Jr. at jlewisjr@ashland.edu or 419-289-5132.

Ashland University is a mid-sized, private university conveniently located a short distance from Akron, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. Ashland University (www.ashland.edu) values the individual student and offers a unique educational experience that combines the challenge of strong applied academic programs with a faculty and staff who build nurturing relationships with their students.