Music: The Food of Love - Part 1

The Pacific Symphonic Wind Ensemble will be presenting an exciting concert of music that comes directly or indirectly from the inspiration of Shakespeare. Some repertoire is from the ballet, some from the theatre and some simply from the god of drama who would have inspired Shakespeare himself.

Rather than tell you about the music that you will hear and the background of each piece, I am going to give you a little background on the composers whose music we will present on February 20th.

Edward Gregson is a name that should be familiar to those of you who have followed PSWE over the years. Among other works, he is the composer of the title track of our "Festivo!" CD that came out in 2001. He is a prolific composer having written for band, orchestra, choir, chamber ensembles, theatre, film and television. He has taught composition at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and served as their Principal for 12 years before retiring in 2008. He was recently awarded an Honourary Doctorate from Manchester University to add to an impressive list of other honourary degrees and fellowships from other British universities.

His work is dramatic and exciting. It is accessable on a first listen but gives the audience member a reason to come back for multiple listens. Each time you will discover something new. "The Sword and the Crown" will be presented on February 20th and is drawn from incidental music that he composed for the Royal Shakespeare Company. It incorporates a number of sounds and effects that draw out the imagery of the plays they were written for. It doesn't take a very active imagination to be able to "see" the scenes that this music was written for.

I expect that you will enjoy listening to Gregson's "The Sword and the Crown" as much as we have enjoyed rehearsing it. If you do like it, you will also enjoy listening to our recording of "Festivo" available at the Evergreen Cultural Centre Gift Shop and on line at Amazon.com.

See you February 21st at 8pm at the Evergreen Cultural Centre!