KINGSTON, R.I. –October 1, 2010 – With a nod to Halloween following soon, the University of Rhode Island Concert Band will feature a nine-movement musical depiction of famous British ghosts for their first concert of the academic year set for Friday, October 15, kicking off URI’s fall Music Department concert schedule. This concert has been moved up a week from its originally announced date. It will be held at 8 p.m. in the URI Fine Arts Center Concert Hall, 105 Upper College Road, Kingston, and will also include several other pieces with dance/folk song influences from the British Isles and Australia. Admission is $10.00 general public, $5.00 students, with tickets available at the box office on a first-come basis starting 45 minutes before the concert.
The eighty-plus member wind and percussion band, directed by Dr. Brian Cardany, will offer a program that ranges from haunting and mysterious to foot-tapping and whimsical. Ghosts, by British composer Stephen McNeff, includes a theme and variations, with the inner movements depicting famous ghosts and stories. These include “The Gray Lady,” “The Dog of Godley,” “The Bank of England Clerk,” “The Girl in the Tower,” and “The Blackpool Tram” among others. The band will also perform The Jig Is Up by Daniel Kallman, a homage to Percy Grainger (Irish influence), Perthshire Majesty by Samuel Hazo (Scottish influence), and Bushdance by Ralph Hultgren, which features songs of the Australian bushdance, including “The Darvy Knick Knack,” “The Waves of Tory,” “Big Fairy Mountain and Little Fairy Mountain,” and “Soldier’s Joy.”
Comprised of music and non-music majors, the Concert Band performs a wide range of styles, from traditional to contemporary. Membership is open but requires a seating placement audition. Dr. Cardany has been the Associate Director of Bands at the University of Rhode Island since 2002. He also serves as the Assistant Conductor of the American Band of Providence and the Associate Conductor of the URI Symphony Orchestra, and has finished his first summer season as Conductor for the South County Chamber Orchestra.
The URI Concert Hall is handicap-accessible, and parking is available behind the Fine Arts Center, off Bills Road. For more information, please contact the URI Department of Music, 874-2431, or visit the website: www.uri.edu/artsci/mus.