Wheaton Municipal Band explores ‘Colors of Music’ July 10

Does music touch your emotional soul, or does it draw up pictures in your mind, or stir up memories? Listening to music is far from a passive pastime. On Thursday, July 10, at 7:30 p.m. in Memorial Park in downtown Wheaton, Dr. Bruce Moss leads the Band on an exploration of the “colors and textures of music.”

Several marches rev up the emotional engines. “Fanfare for a Golden Sky” by Bourma, “The Purple Carnival March” by Alford, “The White Rose” by Sousa, and “The Golden Bear March” by Richards bookend the program.

Overture to “The Yellow Princess “by Camille Saint-Saëns is an orchestral transcription by Odum. It is not easy to create the Saint-Saens’ color palate, but this work is rhythmically intense and harmonically intriguing. The challenge is to keep the same essence as it transforms from an orchestral work to a concert band arrangement. This will keep the musicians on their toes as they read through the score.

“In Living Color” by Katahj Copley premiered in 2021. Copley says, “I wrote ‘In Living Color’ as an ode for live music, especially music performed on the wind band stage. The piece offers a kaleidoscope of colors and energy from modern jazz artists such as Snarky Puppy, American boy singer Estelle and takes inspiration form George Gershwin.”

This concert the featured soloist is flutist, Whitney Bowden. Bowden is in her fourth season with the Wheaton Municipal Band. She has chosen “Poem” by Charles T. Griffes as her featured solo.

Griffes’ “Poem” is a one-movement flute concerto has the harmonic and illusive sense of Claude Debussy’s “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun.” The work is accompanied by a smaller segment of the band.

Don’t miss this special concert on On Thursday, July 10, at 7:30 p.m. in Memorial Park in downtown Wheaton. Come early and bring a lawn chair or sit in the stadium seats.

For more information go to the band’s website at www.wheatonmunicipalband.org.