Jacobs SpringFest celebration features guest conductor Donald Hunsberger
WHAT: "SpringFest -- A Celebration of Winds, Brass and Percussion"
WHEN: 8 p.m. Thursday, April 18
WHERE: IU Musical Arts Center, 101 N. Jordan Ave., Bloomington
TICKETS: Free -- no tickets required.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 15, 2013
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The annual "SpringFest," a free concert celebration of winds, brass and percussion takes place at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 18, in Bloomington's Musical Arts Center.
With performances by the Jacobs School of Music Concert Band, Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble, the concert will feature guest conductor Donald Hunsberger, conductor emeritus of the Eastman Wind Ensemble.
"SpringFest is a wonderful opportunity for the Band Department to present the three ensembles in their prime," said Stephen W. Pratt, chair of the department. "This year, we have the pleasure of hearing them perform Donald Hunsberger's spectacular arrangements of works by Shostakovich, Khachaturian, Rachmaninoff and John Williams. This will be a must-see event!"
A variety of other selections designed to celebrate the spring season will also be performed.
Conductors from the Jacobs School also taking the podium include Pratt and Band Department faculty colleagues Eric M. Smedley, David C. Woodley and Jeffrey D. Gershman.
Arrangements by guest conductor Donald Hunsberger include Shostakovich's "Folk Festival," "Polka from 'The Bolt'" and "Galop"; Khatchaturian's "Scenes from 'Spartacus'"; Rachmaninoff's "Vocalise"; and Williams' "Star Wars Trilogy."
In addition, there will be music by Howard Hanson, Camille Saint-Saens, Timothy Mahr, Bedrich Smetana and Karl King.
Donald Hunsberger
Donald Hunsberger
Donald Hunsberger is conductor emeritus of the Eastman Wind Ensemble, having served as its music director from 1965 to 2002.
He also holds the title of professor emeritus of conducting and ensembles at the Eastman School of Music, where he served for many years as chair of the conducting and ensembles department.
Under his leadership, the Eastman Wind Ensemble continued its development as an international performance model in the creation of numerous new works for wind band, providing a prime example of contemporary performance techniques as demonstrated on numerous recordings on Sony Classics, CBS Masterworks, Mercury Records, DGG Records, Philips and Decca, among other labels.
He has been recognized in publications for his innovative scoring techniques for varying instrumentations of the contemporary wind band.
His research into the history and development of scoring for wind bands in America has led to numerous articles in WindWorks, a journal for wind conductors, performers and composers.
He has been the recipient of a number of awards for research (Homespun America: The National Association for State and Local Historians), pedagogy (the Eastman Alumni Teaching Award and Herbert Eisenhart Award; Wiley Housewright Fellow, Florida State University) and performance (Crystal Award from the Asahi Broadcasting Company, Osaka, Japan; the Ehud Eziel Award, Jerusalem, Israel).
He is a past president and board member of the College Band Directors National Association and has also served on the boards of the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, and the Conductor's Guild.
In the orchestral world, Hunsberger has created and conducted performances of orchestral accompaniments to over 18 silent films with 50 orchestras, including the National, San Francisco, Houston, Vancouver, Utah, Virginia, San Diego, Syracuse and North Carolina Symphony Orchestras, and the Rochester, Buffalo, and Calgary Philharmonic Orchestras, among others.
