Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Wilmington, N.C. - The University of North Carolina Wilmington Department of Music presents a Halloween Family Pops Concert featuring an evening of music and magic at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 31 in Kenan Auditorium. The UNCW Wind Symphony & Chamber Winds, under the direction of Chirstofer Ackerman, will perform haunted classical favorites in costume. Special guests Michael Rosander and No Sleeves Magic create magical mishaps, objects that float, creepy pirates, sword illusions, mad scientists and more.

The program features a line-up of classical music that will delight the entire family. Highlights of the evening include Night on Bald Mountain, a tone poem by Russian composer Modeste Moussorgsky. This piece was originally inspired by an ancient Russian legend of an annual witches' Sabbath, which took place on a mountain near Kiev. A new version of the work was later used and popularized in Walt Disney's classic film Fantasia. It has since been interpreted and used in various soundtracks, musical scores and even as background music for video games.

Funeral March of a Marionette will also be familiar to audiences. Created by the French composer, Charles Gounod in 1873, this piece was ultimately used as the theme music for the 1950s television classic Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

The evening also includes J.S. Bach's popular Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, "March" from An Original Suite by Gordon Jacob, and The Dream of Oenghus by Rolf Rudin.

Audience members are encouraged to attend the concert in costume.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact the UNCW Kenan Auditorium Box Office at 910. 962.3500 or the UNCW Department of Music at 910.962.7416.

For more information about upcoming events presented by the UNCW Department of Music please visit www.uncw.edu/music.

Media Contact: Courtney Reilly, UNCW Office of Cultural Arts /(p) 910.962.7416 or (e) reillyce@uncw.edu

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Artist Bios

The UNCW Wind Symphony connects the University with the community striving to create the highest level of musical communication possible through the performance of the wind band repertoire. The Wind Symphony is UNCW's premiere symphonic band and it's members consist of music majors in the Department of Music and students university wide and also includes outstanding high school musicians, local music teachers (both retired and active), people in music business and music industry, and other community wide members; with auditions at the beginning of each semester for possible new members continuing the process of excelling in music making.

Wind Symphony is a contemporary term used by many universities for the large wind band that used to be commonly called concert band. Fredrick Fennel and the Eastman Wind Ensemble was the first to use a new term of any kind, however, wind ensemble now generally refers to a wind band with one player on a part, for the make-up and personality of UNCW and the community this title was limiting in its designation. A symphony, by definition, refers to a large group and since the music that we play is wind band repertoire it is fitting and organic to use the term Wind Symphony. Concert bands of the past have been keeping with this trend by titling various ensembles and naming them: wind symphony, wind band, wind orchestra, and even wind band orchestra through symphonic wind ensemble, symphonic band, symphonic concert band.

UNCW Chamber Winds is a pull-out group of the Wind Symphony, that primarily consists of music majors in the Department of Music, with others supplementing when needed, that perform works emphasizing strong soloistic practices. This is an opportunity for music majors to push their own personal artistic abilities to the highest level.

Christofer L. Ackerman is an accomplished musician, performer, teacher, and conductor. As a conductor, he has served as guest conductor and clinician for Duplin, Brunswick, and Pender counties' all-county bands and adjudicated the Eastern District Middle School Band Festival for the North Carolina Bandmasters' Association. He is also a tenure-track professor of music at UNCW, where, among other things, he is Professor of Trumpet, Instrumental Coordinator, and conductor of the Wind Symphony, Chamber Winds, and Pep Band. He has studied conducting with Gregg I. Hanson, The University of Arizona, and with Mallory Thompson at the Northwestern Conductors' Symposium. As a trumpet player, he has maintained a richly diverse musical life that has included solo performances, lead parts in off-Broadway shows, CD recordings, studio work, and numerous other venues throughout the United States and the world, in locations from Disneyworld to Germany and Norway. He has played with many varied ensembles including the Chicago Community Orchestra and the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, where he played an all John Williams concert under the baton of John Williams himself. Currently he is Principal Trumpet of the Long Bay Symphony, lead trumpet for the Cape Fear Jazz Orchestra, and plays in the UNCW Faculty Brass Quintet. He received his Bachelor's of Music in Education, cum laude, from The University of Arizona and his Master's of Music in Performance from Northwestern University.

Michael Rosander is a magician working professionally throughout North Carolina, Florida and California. His craft of creatively combining Magic, Theatre, and Story Telling has enabled Michael to open for Harry Potter books for the Border's Bookstore Company, headline at Amusement Park Tweetsie Railroad's Ghost Train, and open for crowds of over 2,000 people, including college Entertainer of the Year, Tom Deluca, Stage Hypnotist. While attending UNCW for his B.A. in Theatre, Michael was recognized for his work academically and in the community and was awarded the prestigious Man of the Year Award. He currently lives in California performing and attaining his M.F.A. in Acting. Rosander spends his summers in Wilmington, NC where he owns and operates MagiCamp, a summer camp devoted to encouraging children to express their individuality through magic.