Passersby may hear an array of wind instruments coming from the Performing Arts Center (PAC) on Friday. Inside, students, ranging from middle school to graduate school will performing with their bands and orchestras.
The grade-school students will come from schools stretching as far as Ventura to Paso Robles. The collegiate performers will be members of Cal Poly’s wind ensemble and wind orchestra.
For the first time, Cal Poly is hosting a “Festival Finale,” where middle school and high school bands and orchestras come to a university to perform in front of a panel of judges. It is not a competition, but the judges will critique the performances and tell students how they can improve. The day will end with performances from the Cal Poly Wind Ensemble and the Cal Poly Wind Orchestra.
“We’re very excited about sharing not just our facilities but also our musicians,” Director of Bands Christopher J. Woodruff said.
The judges for the adjudication are Woodruff, Cal Poly Associate Director of Bands Nicholas P. Waldron, La Sierra University Director of Bands Giovanni Santos and Cal Poly Pomona Director of Bands Rickey Badua.
Woodruff, Waldron and music junior Ari Maman will conduct Cal Poly’s portion of the concert. Woodruff and Waldron asked Maman to be the sole student conductor because of his experience as a conductor in the Mustang Band.
“This is not an everyday type of opportunity,” Maman said. “They recognized that I had what it takes and they offered me this opportunity.”
The Cal Poly band and orchestra have been practicing for this festival since week one of Winter quarter. They will play “Lincolnshire Posy” by Percy Grainger, “Sunflower Studies” by Nicole Piunno and “Bugs” by Roger Cichy.
These practices are a part of the one-unit courses, Wind Orchestra (MU-172 or MU-372) or Wind Ensemble (MU-173 or MU-373).
The two musical groups have a live performance at the end of every quarter. Woodruff plans to adjust this schedule once the university switches to semesters. For the Winter and Spring concerts, the band and orchestra practice for the entire quarter. During Fall quarter, the groups have five weeks to prepare because auditions for new members are held at the beginning of the school year.
“We select [students] based on the level and experience in the groups and to meet the needs of our instrumentation,” Woodruff said.
The wind ensemble and wind orchestras are open to students of all majors.
“I get to meet people with all sorts of different backgrounds like engineering students, history majors [and] chemistry majors,” music freshman Nathan Coelho said. “It’s really cool getting to meet different people who don’t exactly share similar interests.”
Tickets to the Festival Finale are $20 for the public and $10 for students. They can be purchased at the PAC Monday through Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. or by phone at (805) 756-4849.