KU Wind Ensemble presents fall concert at Lied Center October 2, presenting Kansas premiere of Professor James Barnes’ work

LAWRENCE-The University of Kansas Wind Ensemble will perform at the Lied Center on Tuesday, October 2, 2012 at 7:30 PM, presenting works of two Pulitzer Prize winners and the Kansas premiere of a work by KU Professor James Barnes.

“Road Stories” by Pulitzer-Prize winner Jennifer Higdon will be led by graduate conductor Chad Simons; graduate conductor Michael Mapp will conduct “Music for Prague” by Pulitzer-Prize winner Karel Husa; and Director of Bands Paul Popiel will conduct the final work of the concert, “Symphonic Requiem (Seventh Symphony)” by KU Professor James Barnes.

Concluding the concert with the Kansas premiere of Barnes’ “Symphonic Requiem (Seventh Symphony),” the Wind Ensemble will introduce this work penned about the Civil War. When Barnes was commissioned to compose “Seventh Symphony” he combined two massive structures into one: a requiem and a symphony. The result is a work intended to portray the heartbreak of three of the most dramatic battles of the war, concluded by an apotheosis, a hymn of respect and praise for the 668,000 soldiers, Confederate and Federal alike, who gave their lives during this monumental conflict. Currently serving as the Division Director for music theory and composition at the University of Kansas, Professor James Barnes teaches music composition, orchestration, arranging and wind band history/repertoire courses. He has served as staff arranger and was the assistant and later associate Director of Bands for twenty-seven years. He recently completed his thirty-fifth year of teaching at KU.