The Wind Ensemble is St. Cloud State University’s premiere concert band ensemble, comprised of the finest wind and percussion musicians on campus. It is a creative arena for future music educators, performers, pre-professionals and music lovers alike to express themselves and support each other in music making endeavors.

The ensemble is committed to the performance and promotion of the richest and most varied music for wind band, ranging from time honored classics to world premieres of new music. The Wind Ensemble is known as one of the most innovative university music ensembles in the country by virtue of its imaginative programming, fostering of major and emerging composers, unique outreach programs to music education, and its commitment to making music meaningful in communities and in the lives of people.

 

Wind Ensemble Syllabus (pdf 28k) Graduate Program in Instrumental Conducting

AUDITIONS

All auditions for the Wind Ensemble take place the first week of each semester. Auditions include five to seven minutes of music from a solo of the players' choice, a chromatic scale, two to three major scales, and a brief interview of the players' background and interests (see Audition Policy Sheet). Sign up for an audition time at the Music Department table in Atwood during Student Orientation or on the bulletin board located in the lower level of the Performing Arts Center beginning in late June.

INTERVIEWS

Anyone wishing to play in the Wind Ensemble or Chamber Winds should set up an interview time with the Director of Bands. The interview is designed to introduce the student to the program and for the director to become acquainted with the student. For more information contact:

 

Dr. Richard K. Hansen, Conducting and Musicology/Director of Bands rkhansen@stcloudstate.edu / (320) 308-3022

Bands Information (pdf 232k) Bands Brochure (pdf 676k)

2007 ST. CLOUD STATE BAND FEST

ACF NESTING PROJECT

The St. Cloud State University Wind Ensemble is a leader in the initiation of the American Composers Forum Nesting Project. This selective, nationwide program is committed to student composers’ inspired moments in exploration and discovery in sound, and the resultant sharing of their creative processes with musicians from other music schools. The project provides arenas or “nests” consisting of mentor composers, conductors and ensembles for composers to search new sounds, find their unique voices and fashion cutting edge, original works.

PREMIERE PERFORMANCES

With Dr. Hansen’s guidance, the group has performed for eight professional conventions including the American Bandmasters Association, College Band Directors National Association, Minnesota Music Educators Association, and the Music Educators National Conference. The ensemble has given premiere performances of over 30 notable works to critical acclaim, including:

Justin Freer. Liberty Fallen
Ian Krouse. Crónica del última año en la vida de un mexicano
Ian Krouse, On the Beach at Night (for solo bass voice and wind orchestra)
Libby Larsen. Grand Rondo: Napoleon Dances the Can-Can in France, Italy and Poland
Libby Larsen. Songs from Letters of Calmity Jane (for soprano and chamber winds)
Libby Larsen. Within the Circles of Our Lives (for solo singers, wind orchestra, percussion, and pianos)
Melissa Krause. Illumination (rev.) for wind orchestra
Scott Miller. Homage
Scott Miller. Landscape No. 1 for wind ensemble and produced sound
Gabriel Fauré / Anderson. Pavane, Op. 50 for wind orchestra
Giacomo Puccini / Barrett. March Sequence and Reprise from Turandot
Richard Strauss / Barrett. Königsmarsch
Richard Strauss / Barrett. Parade Marches No. 1 and No. 2
Alvaro Bertrand. The Creatures of Proteus (for wind ensemble and midi-synthesizer)

CALIFORNIA HERE WE COME! ABA CONCERT TOUR

The SCSU Wind Ensemble was one of five bands nationwide to be selected to perform for the 2007 American Bandmasters Association convention in San Luis Obispos, California. Along the way, Wind Ensemble students shared their talents in clinics and concerts with high school students at Sauk Rapids- Rice and Maple Grove In California, the Wind Ensemble worked with world class guest conductors: Keith Brion, Ray Cramer, Craig Kirchhoff, Stepehn Pratt, and Glenn Price, The ensemble performed a concert in opulent Harman Hall on the Cal Poly campus on March 8. Their momentous program will consist of a blend of time-honored classics and world premieres of music by major American composers:

CEREMONIES
O Canada
The Star-Spangled Banner
Libby Larsen. Within the Circles of Our Lives (world premiere)

DREAMS AND ELEGIES
Justin Freer. Liberty Fallen, Version B (world premiere) Ian Krouse. Prayer: On the Beach at Night (world premiere)

CELEBRATIONS
Michael Gandolfi. Vinetos y Tangos
Charles Ives. An Ives Collage
Giacomo Puccini. March Sequence and Finale from Act II of Turandot Transcribed by Roger L. Barrett and Richard K. Hansen

 

Wind Ensemble Audio & Video

mp3 (198k) Niagra Falls (1997) by Michael Daughtery

mp3 (158k) Prelude in Eflat Minor (1921 / 1978) by Shostakovich / arr. H.R. Reynolds

mp3 (242k) America the Beautiful (1958) arr. Carmen Dragon

mp3 (843k) Kum-Bah-Ya (1965) arr. Roger Barrett

 

 

 

Music ensembles tour the state and region every year, with the Concert Choir, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band, and Orchestra engaging in major national or international tours on a four year rotating basis.

Our music groups have performed in global venues, including the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Russia, Mexico, and the People's Republic of China. In addition, music ensembles have been recognized by invitations to perform for the American Choral Directors Association, the College Band Directors National Association, the Music Educators National Conference, and in New York's prestigious Carnegie Hall. International music study is also available to eligible music students.

RADIO BROADCASTS, RECORDINGS, TOURS

The SCSU Wind Ensemble has made broadcasts on Minnesota Public Radio and taken concert tours to California, Russia, Scandinavia, and Mexico–where it performed at the National School of Music and made a national radio broadcast in Mexico City. The Wind Ensemble is featured with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Moravian Philharmonic and several professional orchestras from New York on a compact disk devoted to modern music. This recording marked the first time Vienna Modern Music Masters, the largest recording industry of contemporary music, recorded a concert band. The ensemble has also produced and distributed two concert season compact disks: Red, White and New and Messages from the Past, which contain several premiere performances of unique wind band works. The group plans the release of a collaborative cd, American Chronicles, with the Michigan State University Wind Symphony and UCLA Wind Ensemble featuring new major wind works by Los Angeles composers Justin Freer and Ian Krouse in the summer of 2007.