Ouachita Stories

The Ouachita Baptist University Wind Ensemble will perform Thursday, March 8, at 7:30 p.m. in Jones Performing Arts Center. The concert is free and open to the public.

The Ouachita Wind Ensemble is directed by Dr. Craig Hamilton, director of bands at OBU and chair of the music education department. The ensemble consists of 42 students who audition for the group at the beginning of each semester.

The concert will begin with With Sounding Trumpets, composed by W. Francis McBeth. The piece was written for the centennial celebration of OBU and was dedicated to Marvin A. Lawson, who served as director of bands at OBU from 1962-1984. McBeth was a highly distinguished professor of music at OBU and well-known composer, who recently passed away.

Next on the repertoire is Hammersmith, composed by Gustav Holst, followed by Flute Concerto in D, composed by Otar Gordeli and transcribed by Kenneth Singleton. The concerto will feature Elyse Senteney, a junior music education major from Plano, Texas. She describes her solo as “jazzy and just really fun to play. It’s also a pretty difficult piece, both for the flute and the ensemble.” Senteney is also the winner of OBU’s 2011 Concerto Competition.

Next, the ensemble will perform A Light Unto the Darkness, composed by David R. Gillingham. This piece was written “as homage to the 168 victims of the Oklahoma City disaster on April 19, 1995,” Hamilton said. Following are Spoon River, composed by Percy Aldridge Grainger and edited by William S. Carson and Alan Naylor, and Give Us This Day, composed by David Maslanka. All three pieces will be recorded for the Wind Ensemble’s upcoming CD.

This performance offers a great deal of variety from one piece to another. “Some of the pieces are really slow and ominous and others are more energetic,” Senteney said.

Hamilton said he believes the audience will be highly entertained by the “variety of styles and colors” presented in the show. “I am very proud of the Wind Ensemble and their level of musicianship,” he added.

For more information, contact Dr. Craig Hamilton at [email protected] or (870) 245-5137.

By Sydney Phillips