CONWAY, Ark. – (April 24, 2008) Hendrix College will host the second annual Festival of Winds Honor Band for high school students on Saturday, May 2. Ninety students representing 25 high schools will gather for rehearsals from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The students will present a free concert at 7:30 p.m. in Staples Auditorium on the Hendrix campus. The Little Rock Wind Symphony will also be featured on the program. For more information, call (501) 450-1422.
The guest conductor for the honor band is Steven Bryant. Bryant, born in Little Rock, is an active composer and conductor with a varied catalog, including works for wind ensemble, orchestra, electronic and electro-acoustic creations, chamber music, and music for the web.
Bryant’s music has been performed by numerous ensembles across North America, Europe, and East Asia. He is a two-time winner of the National Band Association's William D. Revelli Composition Award: in 2007 for his work Radiant Joy, and in 2008 for Suite Dreams. His first orchestral work, Loose Id for Orchestra, hailed by celebrated composer Samuel Adler as "orchestrated like a virtuoso," was premiered by The Juilliard Symphony and is featured on a CD release by the Bowling Green Philharmonia on Albany Records. Alchemy in Silent Spaces, a new large-scale work commissioned by James DePreist and The Juilliard School was premiered by the Juilliard Orchestra in May 2006.
Other notable commissions have come from the Amherst Saxophone Quartet (funded by the American Composers Jerome Composers Commissioning Program), the Indiana University Wind Ensemble, the US Air Force Band of Mid-America, the Calgary Stampede Band, and the University of Nevada Las Vegas Wind Orchestra. Other recordings include Eugene Corporon and the University of North Texas Wind Symphony, the Ron Hufstader and the El Paso Wind Symphony, William Berz and the Rutgers University Wind Ensemble, and Thomas Leslie and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Wind Orchestra. Bryant has also created a recomposition of the Iggy Pop and the Stooges song, "Real Cool Time," for the independent Italian record label, Snowdonia, as well as music for portions of the Virtual Space Tour at space.com.
Bryant is a founding member of the composer-consortium BCM International: four stylistically-diverse composers from across the country, dedicated to enriching the repertoire with exciting works for mediums often mired in static formulas. BCM's music has generated a following of champions around the world, several thousand fans in an active online community, and two recordings: "BCM Saves the World" (2002, Mark Custom Records) and "BCM Men of Industry" (2004, BCM Records).
Bryant studied composition with John Corigliano at The Juilliard School, Cindy McTee at the University of North Texas, and Francis McBeth at Ouachita University. He resides in Austin, Texas. For more information, please visit his website at http://www.stevenbryant.com.
Featured on the program will be the Little Rock Wind Symphony, Dr. Karen Fannin, conductor, on Overture to Candide - Leonard Bernstein / arr. Beeler, Concerto No. 2 in E-flat, op. 74 - Carl Maria von Weber / arr. Girard (Robert Anderson, clarinet soloist), Dusk - Steven Bryant (Steven Bryant, conductor), Petite Symphonie - Charles Gounod, and Vientos y Tangos - Michael Gandolfi. The Festival of Winds Honor Band will perform Fanfare, Ode, and Festival - Bob Margolis, Bloom - Bryant, Interruption Overture - Bryant, Sleep - Eric Whitacre, and Metamarch - Bryant.
High schools represented in the honor band include: Abundant Life High School, Sherwood; Benton High School; Cabot High School; Catholic High School, Little Rock; Concord High School; Conway High School West; Episcopal Collegiate School, Little Rock; Farmington High School; Fort Smith Southside High School; Horatio High School; Malvern High School; Morrilton High School; Mountain Home High School; North Little Rock High School – West; Parkers Chapel High School, El Dorado; Oak Grove High School, Oak Grove, MO; Oxford High School, Oxford, MS; Pangburn High School; Parkview Arts – Science Magnet School, Little Rock; Perryville High School; Pulaski Academy, Little Rock; Rector High School; Sylvan Hills High School, Sherwood; and Wilbur D. Mills High School, Little Rock.
Hendrix, founded in 1876, is a selective, residential, undergraduate liberal arts college emphasizing experiential learning in a demanding yet supportive environment. The college is among 165 colleges featured in the 2008 edition of the Princeton Review America’s Best Value Colleges. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.