The Elmhurst University Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble will perform their first formal concert of the new academic year on Sunday, Oct. 16 at 2 p.m. in Hammerschmidt Chapel. In addition, Elmhurst University and the Elmhurst University Music Department will be welcoming and featuring their new Professor of Oboe, Julie Popplewell.
The Symphonic Band will open the concert with a classic standard of the wind band repertoire, Gustav Holst’s Second Suite for Military Band. The famous band composer Claude T. Smith has crafted a beautiful setting of our national hymn God of Our Fathers which will be followed by the spirited Prelude, Siciliano and Rondo by the well-known English composer Malcolm Arnold. The Symphonic Band will conclude with the rousing Dunedin March by Kenneth Alford.
The Wind Ensemble will open the second half of the program with Dmitri Shostakovich’s exciting Festive Overture. The Elmhurst University Bands and Music Department are excited to welcome Professor Popplewell with her first performance with the Wind Ensemble being featured on Eric Ewazen’s Down a River of Time and the hauntingly beautiful Gabriel’s Oboe by Ennio Morricone from the motion picture “The Mission.” The finale movement of David Maslanka’s Symphony No. 2 is one of the most exciting and intense pieces in the wind band repertoire with an insistent outpouring of energy and demanding a high level of playing precision and physical endurance from the performers. The concert will conclude reflecting on the music of Duke Ellington with Omar Thomas’ jazzy Come Sunday.
The guest artist Julie Popplewell received her Bachelor’s of Music in Oboe Performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Julie has studied with renowned oboists — Dr. Nancy Ambrose King, Daniel Stolper, and Scott Hostetler. Additionally, she has studied with Grover Schiltz, Deb Stevenson, Jelena Dirks, Lora Schaefer, Gordon Hunt, and Richard Killmer. After post-graduate work at DePaul University, Julie quickly became an active freelance oboist and teacher in the Chicago area, performing with the Chicago Modern Orchestra Project, Northbrook Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Chamber Orchestra and the Chicago Camerata. She is an active soloist and chamber ensemble member with Bel Sonore Chamber Ensemble and Duo Voce.
Admission is free. For more information regarding future performances, a map of the campus or more information, visit www.elmhurst.edu/music.
