The Wind Symphony Ensemble received the invitation to play at Carnegie Hall and accepted the invitation. The ensemble will perform Sunday, March 29 at 8:30 p.m.
Dr. Nicholas Thomas, assistant professor of music education and assistant band director, said students will get to stay in downtown Manhattan and it should be an exciting trip.
The Wind Symphony Ensemble will be performing Dixieland Jam by Bob Lowden, Movement III from Symphony No. 7 by David Maslanka, Fanfare for a New Era by Jack Stamp, Cloudburst by Eric Whitacre and Star Wars Trilogy by John Williams.
The Wind Symphony Ensemble is composed of 60 of the best musician students who will all perform on Sunday at Carnegie Hall.
“It should be really interesting getting to play in a Hall as famous as this one in an area with us being the first historically Black university to be able to do a concert there, is really historic,” said Thomas.
The Wind Symphony Ensemble is playing on a subscription series concert and staying four days and three nights.
The band is leaving Friday morning to depart to Jacksonville, Fla.
There will be five professors traveling with the Wind Symphony Ensemble.
Emmanuel Rodriguez, a third-year music education student from Coconut Creek Fla., has been in FAMU’s Wind Symphony Ensemble since the fall of 2013. He was encouraged to join FAMU’s Wind Symphony Ensemble because of the historic nature of FAMU’s Wind Symphony Ensemble being well recognized as an HBCU concert band.
“I actually transferred schools just to perform in this group. It feels gratifying to know that our group is going down in history,” said Rodriguez.
Over the last 30 to 40 years, the FAMU Symphonic band has performed at the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall in Washington, DC and The American Bandmasters Association Convention.
“The band has done some big performances in the past, so this is one of the things we’re adding to the list. We’ve done some great performances under Dr. William P. Foster and Dr. Julian White when they were here. Dr. Chipman is just really continuing that legacy,” said Thomas.
President, Dr. Elmira Mangum is hosting a reception for the Wind Symphony Ensemble at 6:30 p.m. at Carnegie Hall to honor alumni in the area, donors and interested people before the concert.
“They’re (students) really excited about it. I had a couple students who said they’ve never flown before,” said Thomas.
Gabriel Farmer, a third-year music student from Atlanta Ga., said she has been playing the flute since the fifth grade.
“I feel this is a historic moment and some people don’t realize the importance of it. “There’s no other Black HBCU or school that has been to Carnegie Hall to play there. The fact that we’re doing that and people like, “Beethoven and Mozart have performed on this stage, those are musical geniuses— legends, it’s really important,” said Farmer.
Next week, the Wind Symphony Ensemble will be performing at Artist and Bloom in Lee Hall Auditorium on Wednesday, April 1, 2015.
They will be traveling to Miami, Fla. for recruitment to perform at an upcoming concert later in April.