Concert Band Presents Spring Concert and Featured Guest
The Buena Vista University Concert Band, under the direction of Jerry Bertrand, will present its annual Spring Concert on Sunday, May 10 in Schaller Memorial Chapel.
The Buena Vista University Concert Band, under the direction of Jerry Bertrand, assistant professor of instrumental music, will present its annual Spring Concert on Sunday, May 10 at 3 p.m. in Schaller Memorial Chapel on the BVU campus.
The concert band's portion of the program will include: "Fanfare of Wakakusa Hill" by Itaru Sakai, "Overture in B-Flat" by Caesar Giovannini, "Corsican Litany" by Vaclav Nelhybel, "Sheltering Sky" by John Mackey and "Prestissimo" by Karl L. King.
The featured guest artist performing with the BVU Concert Band will be actor and educator Bruce Bray. Bray will join the concert band with a performance of Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait". Commissioned in 1942 for the Cincinnati Orchestra, "Lincoln Portrait" is a work for narrator and orchestra which was later transcribed for concert band. The narration uses Lincoln's words with the composers own brief description of the former president.
In the second half of the concert, Bray will take the stage as the character Ahab from Herman Melville's novel, "Moby Dick" during a performance of "Ahab!" by composer Stephen Melillo. This performance with the BVU Concert Band will mark Bray's sixth appearance on stage in the title role, having first performed the piece with the Westwood High School Wind Ensemble under the baton of Jim VanZandt and four times with Richard Floyd and The Austin Symphonic Band, including ASB's 2010 performance for The National Convention Of Community Bands at the Eisemann Center for Performing Arts, in Richardson, Texas.
Bray attended Texas Tech University and received a Bachelor of Music Education degree in 1978. He taught instrumental music in Texas public schools and retired from teaching in 2012.
In addition to his acting abilities, Bray is a multi-instrumentalist, an artist, writer, lyricist and a composer, with musical works published by TRN, RBC and Larry Daehn. He was commissioned to compose the University Interscholastic League sight reading selection for AAAAA Texas high schools in 2010 and has penned the alma mater and fight song for several area schools in Texas.