Description:

Mallory Thompson, conductor

The Symphonic Wind Ensemble concludes its performance season with a program exploring childlike innocence and imagination. Eugène Bozza’s Children’s Overture reflects the often boisterous essence of childhood. Set to text by American poet Anthony Silvestri and arguably one of Eric Whitacre’s most famous works, Sleep, with its rich harmonies, portrays a mind giving way to slumber. Equally popular in the contemporary music and wind band worlds, composer Viet Cuong explains that his work Moth “...seeks inspiration from the dualities between light and dark, beautiful and grotesque, reality and fantasy, and the ultimate decision to sacrifice sensibility for grace.” The center of the program is David Maslanka’s monumental A Child’s Garden of Dreams. Commissioned by former Northwestern University Director of Bands John Paynter and his wife Marrieta, the work is a musical depiction of the odd, fanciful, and troubling dreams of a 10-year-old child who had yet to experience life.

Eugène Bozza, Children’s Overture
Eric Whitacre, Sleep
Viet Cuong, Moth
David Maslanka, A Child’s Garden of Dreams