PORT ANGELES — The Sequim City Band will present “Viva Italia!,” a concert highlighting the music of Italy, today.
This free event, the first indoor concert of the 2016-17 season, will start at 3 p.m. at the Port Angeles High School Performing Arts Center, 304 E. Park Ave.
The concert features symphonic concert band arrangements of several well-known orchestral and operatic pieces. Several musicians from Navy Band Northwest will join in the performance.
Leading off the concert will be the woodwind trio Trident Winds. This ensemble performs for official military ceremonies and receptions, as well as public concerts and patriotic events throughout the Northwest.
Composed of flute, clarinet and bassoon, they perform a variety of musical styles, including an eclectic blend of classical and Americana music featuring composers such as Vivaldi, Sousa, Joplin, Kummer, Haydn, Ibert, Rossini, Bozza and Muczynski. Trident Winds performs clinics for school music programs and children’s concerts in the Pacific Northwest.
The trio includes Petty Officer First Class Edgardo Hernandez-Riveria on flute, Petty Officer Second Class Emily Zizza on clarinet and Chief Petty Officer Sterling Strickler on bassoon.
The trio will salute Italy with Gioachino Rossini’s “Largo Al Factotum” from “The Barber of Seville,” a baritone aria known for its tongue-twisting lines. The trio also will highlight other musical genres with “Tango” from “España” by Isaac Albéniz and Henry Fillmore’s “The Klaxon.”
Under the direction of Tyler Benedict, the Sequim City Band provides further tributes from the Italian symphonic music library featuring tuba soloist Petty Officer Third Class Patrick Melvin, who performs “Nessun Dorma” from Giacomo Puccini’s frequently performed opera “Turandot.”
The band travels back in time with “The Pines of the Appian,” the final movement of “The Pines of Rome.” The power and energy of Mount Vesuvius, one of Italy’s active volcanoes that erupted in A.D. 79 and buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, is described in “Vesuvius” — composed for concert band by Frank Ticheli in 1999.
No salute to Italian music would be complete without a piece by Giuseppe Verdi. The “Triumphal March” from the grand opera “Aida” is a well-known triumphal march in the operatic and symphonic tradition.
The band’s oboist Nancy Reis is featured in the overture of Rossini’s “Italian in Algiers,” which evolves from a slow, melodic ornamental opening to a pulse-quickening finish — a signature form of Rossini.
The band, along with Navy Band Northwest guests, also will play pieces under the baton of guest conductor Lt. Bruce Mansfield, who will set aside his trombone to direct.
The concert announcer will be Bill Benedict, Clallam County sheriff and retired commander in the U.S. Navy.
This is the second concert within the past two years where the Sequim City Band has hosted musicians from Navy Band Northwest. Navy Band Northwest is the official Navy band serving 13 states in the western United States.
The Sequim City Band also can be seen playing the afternoon of Saturday, Nov. 26, as musical entertainment to greet Santa Claus as he arrives in downtown Sequim in time for the Christmas season.
The band also will perform “Sounds of the Season” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 21, in the Sequim High School auditorium, 601 N. Sequim Ave., and “A Jump in Time” at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 19, in the high school auditorium.
The Sequim City Band was formed in 1992 with 14 instrumental musicians and has had three directors: Chuck Swisher (founder, 1992-2008), Sanford Feibus (2008-12) and Tyler Benedict (2013-present).
Current members come from Port Angeles, Carlsborg, Sequim, Diamond Point, Port Townsend, Port Hadlock and Poulsbo.
More than 70 musicians are part of the band, with 45 to 65 on stage for any given concert.
For more information, email scb@sequimcityband.org or see www.sequimcity band.org.
__________
Olympic Peninsula News Group is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum.
