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News Release

Last modified: Monday, March 19, 2007

IU wind ensemble to be featured at national college wind band convention

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 19, 2007

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Indiana University Wind Ensemble, directed and conducted by Stephen W. Pratt, has been invited to perform the opening concert of the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) on March 28 in Ann Arbor, Mich. The ensemble was selected following a rigorous screening process by a distinguished panel of musicians. Joining Pratt on the podium will be Jacobs wind conducting faculty members Paul Popiel, Scott Weiss and David Woodley.

Featuring IU faculty pianist Chih-Yi Chen in the Concerto for Piano and Winds, by Stephen Paulus, the concert also will include the North American premiere of Race of Gods by Jacobs composer P.Q. Phan. Cellist and IU alumnus Jonathan Ruck will join the Wind Ensemble for Michael Schelle's chamber winds piece, Prayer: Schöne Maydl.

Other selections on the program include Blink, by composer Joel Puckett, Icarus by Richard Prior, Son of A Gambolier by Charles Ives and Rocky Point Holiday by Ron Nelson. The concert will open with Jacobs Professor David Woodley's new setting of music from the opera Rusalka by Antonin Dvorak entitled Festmusik.

The performance, free to the public, will take place at 8 p.m. in Hill Auditorium on the central campus of the University of Michigan. The program will also be performed at IU Bloomington on March 27 at 8 p.m. in the Musical Arts Center.

The IU Wind Ensemble holds a distinguished reputation for musical leadership in the wind band field. Recognized as one of the finest collegiate wind ensembles in the world, the ensemble is composed of some of the most advanced music majors from all areas of the Jacobs School of Music. The group performs a wide variety of the finest wind literature, including classics of the repertoire, chamber music for winds and contemporary works.

The IU Wind Ensemble has performed previously at all of the major wind band national venues, including conventions held by the College Band Directors National Association, the American Bandmasters Association, the Music Educators National Conference, and the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago. The Wind Ensemble has performed twice in Japan.

Stephen W. Pratt conducts and directs the Wind Ensemble, teaches graduate wind conducting courses and is the chair of the Department of Bands/Wind Conducting in the Jacobs School of Music. In demand as a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator of wind bands and orchestras across the country, he is recipient of the Distinguished Service to Music medal awarded by Kappa Kappa Psi, the national collegiate band honorary organization.

He has also been honored with the Outstanding Bandmaster award, Gamma chapter (Indiana) of Phi Beta Mu, 1998, and the Outstanding University Music Educator award, Indiana Music Educators Association (IMEA), 2001. He is a past president of the College Band Directors National Association North Central Division and past president of the Indiana Bandmasters Association.

Pratt is an elected member of the American Bandmasters Association as well as a member of the executive board of the National Band Association. He has been a member of the Jacobs School of Music faculty since 1984.

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