Tallahassee Winds spans genres with Valentine themed concert

Tallahassee Winds, a community-based symphonic band that performs under the auspices of the FSU College of Music, will present its third concert of the season in Opperman Music Hall at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 13.

Dr. Bentley Shellahamer, who as Assistant Dean of FSU College of Music organized the ensemble in 1997, will join current leaders Drs. Patrick Dunnigan (FSU Professor of Music and Director of Bands) and David Plack (FSU Director of Athletic Bands) as Guest Conductor.

Admission is free; plus, all attendees who enjoy live music will receive a Valentine in the form of a fresh red rose.

The program for Feb. 13 spans numerous musical styles, ranging from a Baroque-era fugue to an Oscar-nominated film score, and points between.

“Fugue a` la Gigue” is Gustav Holst’s arrangement of one of J.S. Bach’s many classical organ compositions. This was an ambitious undertaking, as it required him to distribute the complex themes that Bach wrote for keyboards sequentially among the ensemble’s instrumental sections and artfully align the answers of each.  Clearly, Holst was the right person for the job.

John Mackey is a prolific contemporary composer with whom the FSU College of Music has a longstanding relationship. When Mackey visits FSU’s campus, he is surrounded by throngs of admiring music majors, which says much to recommend his serene “Sheltering Sky.” Program note author Jake Wallace observes that, while Mackey intentionally created in the piece the feel of a traditional folk song, its melodic component is original.

Ron Nelson’s “Courtly Airs and Dances,” consisting of Renaissance-era dances in the styles that prevailed in England, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany, adds an international flavor to the program.

“Silverado,” composed by Bruce Broughton, is the musical score of the movie of the same name.  The work is bold, expansive, and drenched in the Wild West idiom. As it begins, French hornists wear the heroes’ white hats.

The inspiration for Conni Ellisor’s “Keepers of the House” is the startling contention of some investigators that trees communicate with and support each other. Regardless of how one views the claim, be grateful that it motivated Ellisor to write music of surpassing loveliness.

Michele Fernandez composed “Of Endless Miles and Empty Rafts” as an homage to displaced persons of all eras and origins. Its captivating Afro-Cuban rhythms evoke images of a perilous journey, wistful memories of home, and turmoil ending in victory.

Tallahassee Winds expresses its gratitude to the supportive (and, obviously, sentimental!) local managers of Costco, Publix, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Winn Dixie, and Fresh Market for making the concert’s Valentine theme possible.

If you go

What: Tallahassee Winds

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 13

Where: FSU's Opperman Music Hall

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee Winds spans genres in upcoming concert