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St. Cloud State University
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Diversions
Friendship concert unites colleges
By Ashwin Raman
Published:
Monday, November 4, 2002
St. Cloud locals and SCSU students alike were treated to a wind ensemble concert held at Ritsche Auditorium on Sunday.
The concert, presented by the SCSU music department, is an annual event that brings together players from the College of St. Benedict, St. John's University and SCSU's very own wind ensemble performing in the "Friendship Concert."
A wind ensemble is made up of woodwind and brass instruments accompanied by percussion. The concept of the friendship concert was initiated during the mid-1980s by SCSU associate professor of music, Richard Hansen and conductor of the wind ensemble of CSB/SJU, Dr. Dale White. Both Hansen and White are members of the Minnesota Chapter of the College Band Directors Association and have gone as far as initiating the idea of a friendship concert to other universities in the midwest region.
The show began precisely at three p.m. and was divided into three parts. For the first part, the CSB/SJU Symphony, composed of 75 players, enchanted audiences to a half-hour long rendition of pieces by Leonard Bernstein, Eric Whitacre and Adam Gorb. White took a brief moment to explain that the piece was relatively new and as the title suggests, is about the fall season of October. The last piece that the CSB/SJU Symphony played was Gorb's "Yiddish Dances for Symphonic Wind Orchestra," which was laced with a Middle Eastern tune.
Up next was the SCSU Wind Ensemble led by Hansen. They then proceeded to play pieces by Claudio S. Grafulla, Ira Hearshen and Soichi Konagaya. For some in the audience, the Grafulla piece titled "Washington Greys" was the best piece of the whole concert.
"It was very relaxing music," said Sherry Lumley, whose son, David, was the bass trombone player for the SCSU Wind Ensemble.
Another piece that gathered many rounds of applause from the audience was Konagaya's root piece entitled "Japanese Tune," which is, Hansen informed the audience,traditional Japanese court music. In this offering, the SCSU Wind Ensemble included authentic Japanese percussion to accompany the piece.
Finally, after a brief interval, all the players from SCSU and CSB/SJU came onstage under the name of a Tri-College Symphony Band and played three more pieces together for the remaining half hour of the concert.
Before they began, Hansen gave the audience a little history on the friendship concert that he began with White.
"This is the first year we have a name for the collaboration" Hansen said in reference to the Tri-College Symphony Band.
He also told the audience that concerts such as this are a great opportunity for students to play together. They then proceeded to play another piece by Grafulla, a waltz version of the "Star-Spangled Banner," conducted by Hansen.
Hansen then left the podium to be replaced by White, who conducted the following piece, "Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral from Lohengrin" by Richard Wagner.
For the last piece, John Philip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever," Hansen returned to the podium with White.
For some of the players from CSB/SJU and SCSU, the whole concert was an interesting first-time experience. Alex Adams-Leytes, oboe player for SJU, is one of those who was collaborated with other players for the first time.
"This friendship concert is an interesting new idea," Adams-Leytes said.
Some in the audience also felt that such a collaboration provides opportunities for the students.
"The friendship concert is a very nice tradition," said Gary Barrett, who has been to three friendship concerts. Barrett, whose son, Micah, plays the oboe for SCSU, added that through concerts such as this, students are enabled to build connections with other university students.
