The Marquette Wind Ensemble performed their winter concert Feb. 25 in Varsity Theatre. Students were accompanied by guest performer, Adam Frey, Associate Professor of Music at the University of North Georgia and international euphonium soloist.
“There’s about 50 students in the ensemble and what I tell them every year for this concert is that I’m going to follow the soloist, so you follow me, and I’ll follow the soloist,” director Erik Janners said.
Frey has been a guest soloist at multiple music festivals around the globe performing in places such as Singapore, Australia and Argentina.
“I am a euphonium soloist; I’m a musician and I travel all around the world presenting concerts and master classes and sharing live music with audiences,” Frey said.
Last week, Frey said he spent one-on-one time with the students and conducted a master class with the ensemble to prepare for the concert.
“I wrote a book called ‘The Game of Practice’ at my university and it’s about goal setting within music. So, we went through the process of building a strength and weakness list and evaluated how the students can be more efficient and get better on their instruments,” Frey said.
The program began with four movements performed solely by the ensemble and the last two with Frey. The performance started with Robert Jager’s “Sinfonia Nobilissima.”
Following the opening piece, “Two Symphonic Movements” by Vaclav Nelhybel was performed in two tempos, marcato, which indicates the music should be played with more emphasis, and allegro impetuoso.
Students who are part of the ensemble, such as Leo Ruffolo, a euphonium player and junior in the College of Engineering, were looking forward to learning from Frey.
“It’s very fast-paced. Dr. Janners described this piece as music for music’s sake. It’s not embodying anything, it’s just what this guy came up with. It’s really good to listen to and play,” Ruffolo said.
Norman Dello Joio’s “Satiric Dances” were also performed in a variety of tempos, with the first performed in Allegro Pesante, bringing emphasis to the first sound of the brass.
To close out “Satiric Dances,” Allegro Spumante, the final movement was the fastest tempo of the two other movements, beginning with the loud sound of the snare drum.
As the program approached the halfway point, Frey entered the stage to play Bert Appermont’s “The Green Hill.”
“It’s a fantastic solo; ‘slow-part, fast-part, back to slow’ basic structure but it’s executed so well, and Dr. Frey plays it amazingly. It was so nice to hear it in person,” Ruffolo said.
Peter Graham’s “Brillante: Fantasy on ‘Rule Britannia'” was originally made to be a duet piece but later was reworked as a solo piece with a brass band accompaniment.
“It’s what’s called a showpiece so basically what your skills and how high, fast and loud you can play in a good way and it’s a showoff piece,” Frey said.
The program closed with Anthony O’Toole’s “Latin Dance Movements” and was followed by an encore with Frey.
There was also a table in the lobby selling t-shirts, stickers, socks and crewnecks to fundraise and support the Marquette Bands.
Frey said he used the expertise he wrote about in his book to advise the students on their musical journeys.
“Think about how you want to develop, about your strengths and weaknesses as a musician, and then really address the weaknesses so you can be more creative. I find we have creativity in our minds, but not creativity in execution. When we address our weakness as musicians, we can be more effective at playing, singing and composing,” Frey said.
This story was written by Mimi Sinotte. She can be reached at [email protected].
