Wind Orchestra Presents "Post-Halloween Symphony"

Utah State University’s Wind Orchestra, based in the department of music, presents its fall concert Friday, Nov. 3, in the Kent Concert Hall of the Chase Fine Arts Center on campus. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m., and admission is $5 for adults and $10 for a family ticket. All USU and school music students are admitted at no cost.

The concert, titled “Post-Halloween Symphony,” is highlighted by Tam O’Shanter, composed by recently deceased British composer Malcolm Arnold. The “symphony” portion of the concert comes from the presentation of Vincent Persichetti’s Symphony No. 6, one of the four greatest symphonies written for concert band, said Wind Orchestra director Thomas Rohrer.

 

Tam O’Shanter is the hero of a poem by the same title by Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759-1796). Tam is a drunken farmer who, while riding home late one stormy night, disturbs a witches’ party in a haunted church. The witches pursue Tam to the bridge over the river Doom and have to stop because they cannot cross running water. One witch, however, plucks the tail from Tam’s mare during the chase. This story is told through the music in the piece.