LEXINGTON, Ky. (Apr. 23, 2025) — The University of Kentucky Bands will present its spring concert 7 p.m. Sunday, April 27, in the Singletary Center for the Arts Concert Hall.
The performance will be the first time the UK Wind Symphony and Symphony and Concert bands will perform on a single concert.
The University of Kentucky Wind Symphony, under the direction of UK Director of Bands Cody Birdwell, D.M.A., will open the concert with “American Salute” by iconic American composer Morton Gould, followed by James M. David’s award-winning composition “Ghosts of the Old Year.”
Other pieces include the wind ensemble masterwork “Lincolnshire Posy” by Percy Grainger and will conclude its portion of the concert with Spanish composer Oscar Navarro’s “Legacy Concerto for Oboe and Wind Ensemble,” featuring Associate Professor ToniMarie Marchioni, D.M.A., as soloist. Marchioni has performed nationally and internationally with ensembles such as the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and the Orquesta Philarmónica del Ecuador.
The UK Concert Band will perform “Songs of Old Kentucky” by Brant Karrick, which contains folk song references to “My Old Kentucky Home,” “Sourwood Mountain” and “Wayfaring Stranger.” Karrick has composed this setting of familiar melodies to exhibit Kentucky’s proud heritage of American folk song. The Concert Band will debut “I Dream of Lightning,” by up-and-coming composer, Sean Evans. As a computer science major, Evans continues to pursue a passion for music through his compositions. Evans has written work for bands in the Bluegrass region, and wonderfully blends his technological work and love for music in “I Dream of Lightning.”
Closing the concert, the UK Symphony Band will perform dramatic works by Scott Boerma, Ottornio Resphigi, Guy Woolfenden and Satoshi Yagisawa. Conducted by Shayna Stahl, D.M.A., the Symphonic Band’s repertoire includes Boerma’s “Fanfare for a Golden Sky,” and Resphigi’s “Huntingtower Ballad.” Composed in 1932, the ballad depicts the Huntingtower Castle, a supposedly haunted building in Scotland. Woolfenden’s “Illyrian Dances” is a dance suite with three light and joyful movements. The final piece of the night will be Yagisawa’s “Machu Picchu: City in the Sky”, depicting the hidden city and sun temple.
Additional conductors for these performances include guest conductors Brian Froedge and Michael Hudson, Ph.D.; and graduate conductors Adam Miller and Jalen Allred.
Tickets are $14 for adults and $7 for students. UK students can receive one free ticket by going in person to the Singletary Center ticket office located at 405 Rose Street in Lexington.