Pacer Photos / Ryleigh Ulen
The UTM Wind Ensemble presented their final concert of the semester on Apr. 15 in the Harriet Fulton Theatre.
Along with the Wind Ensemble, the performance also featured two other groups: the University Band and the Symphonic Band.
“We’ve got a… new approach to bands… this is our first time doing it at home,” said Dr. John Oelrich, Director of Bands at UT Martin. “We’ve got lots and lots of musicians in the Wind Ensemble and so rather than having everybody play everything all the time, I divided the group in half and that gave them some opportunities for folks to play parts that they may not otherwise get to play or play instruments that they may not otherwise get to play… it’s been a really, really neat experience…”.
Composer Derek M. Jenkins was in attendance for the world premiere performance of his piece Into Air, Into Thin Air (2023), played by the Symphonic Band. The piece was created with the idea of giving the audience the chance to not only experience the music but to participate in it as well. During the intermission, audience members were able to record the names of loved ones that had passed away and the recordings were played during the piece.
“I wanted to do something different,” said Jenkins. “You don’t know if the person sitting next to you, the row behind you, the other side of the theatre, said one of the names that you’re gonna hear… but it’s a way to just kind of unify all of us and bring us all together in this one shared moment.”
Along with Jenkins’ piece, other arrangements presented by the Symphonic Band included Unquiet Hours (2017) by David Biedenbender and Galop (1959/1971) by Dmitri Shostakovich and transcribed by Donald Hunsberger. Songs performed by the University Band included Sundance (1997) by Frank Ticheli and …my consciousness (2013) by Daniel Montoya, Jr.. The Wind Ensemble performed Shared Spaces (2024) by Viet Cuong and Flying Jewels (2021) by James M. David.
The groups are under the direction of Dr. John Oelrich and consist of students from across all programs of study.
