Monday, February 23, 2004

By Tiffany Johnson, PR Intern

WILMINGTON, N.C. – The University of North Carolina at Wilmington Wind Symphony and the UNCW Chamber Winds, which are conducted by Christofer Ackerman, present a program featuring Percy Grainger's Lincolnshire Posey at 8 p.m. Monday, March 1 in Kenan Auditorium. General admission is $5 and free for UNCW students with a valid ID. Tickets will be available at the Kenan Auditorium box office immediately prior to the concert. Other pieces to be performed are Sousa’s The Stars and Stripes Forever, Adler's A Little Night and Day Music, Hanson’s Chorale and Alleluia and Surinach’s Ritmo Jondo.

Percy Grainger’s Lincolnshire Posy, the featured piece, is the cornerstone of wind band repertoire. This piece is based on folksongs collected in Lincolnshire, England from 1905-06. Grainger kept these folksongs as close as possible to their original performance practice. The composer referred to Lincolnshire Posy as “a bunch of musical wildflowers.”

Christofer L. Ackerman is UNCW's assistant professor of trumpet and conductor of the Wind Symphony. He also is the principal trumpet of the Wilmington and Long Bay symphony orchestras and plays lead in the Cape Fear Jazz Orchestra. UNCW student Robert Pearson, alto saxophone, is the featured soloist on Ritmo Jondo, which is a collection of flamenco dances set for wind band. Pearson was the winner of the Richard R. Deas Concerto Competition and appeared with the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra at the Valentine's Day concert. Spanish composer Carlos Surinach based Ritmo Jondo on three different flamenco rhythms.

The Wind Symphony is UNCW's premier symphonic band. Chamber Winds is a subset of the Wind Symphony that primarily consists of music majors in the Department of Music and performs works emphasizing strong solo practices.

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NOTE TO MEDIA: For additional information contact Sara White at 910/962-7416, 910/233-1323 or e-mail sarasingergraham@hotmail.com.