By Kathy Feist
Imagine the sound from a 53-member concert band within the walls of a large church, containing just enough echo that musical crescendos fill you with emotion.
That was the experience Sunday afternoon, October 6, when south Kansas City’s only professional concert band, Pinnacle Winds, performed its fifth concert of the year at First Church of the Nazarene, 118th and State Line Road.
It has only been four years since Dr. John Carmichael started Pinnacle Winds. The improvement over the years shows.
The theme for this performance was “Around the World in 80 Minutes.” The guest conductor was Dr. Andrea DeRenzis Strauss, Conductor and Artistic Director of the Tara Winds Community Band in Atlanta, GA and former Director of Bands at Georgia Tech.
Dr. DeRenzis Strauss started the “world tour” with Yosemite Autumn by Mark Camphouse. The music perfectly captured the bold colors of autumn, the crescendos sweeping you up like leaves taking flight with the wind. At times, its power overwhelmed the senses.
Dr. Carmichael followed, conducting two numbers from Paris Sketches by Martin Ellerby, a more subdued performance, with a celebratory end in the second piece.
She Walks Through the Fair by Luigi Zaninelli was a short Celtic folk song inspired by the composer’s visit to Ireland. The number involved inharmonic piccolo trills as the rest of the band performed in harmony, evoking an eeriness and, most of all, curiosity.
Prior to the intermission, Dr. DeRenzis Strauss conducted a musical “spicy meatball.” Audience members, including children, delighted in the well-known Italian melodies in Italian Rhapsody by Julie Giroux. Watching Dr. DeRenzis Strauss’ arms punctuating the air with sweeping vivacity was an added bonus.
After the intermission, local composer Dr. Lee Hartman, who was also performing on English horn, stood up to introduce his composition Mehter Suite. Hartman, Artistic Director of another local professional concert band, Mid America Freedom Band, said the work was based on the Ottoman militaristic march style and was requested for an event at the World War I Museum. Dr. Carmichael conducted the number with Hartman carefully watching from his seat in the wind section.
From Turkey and Hungary, the audience was then transported to Africa. African tribes believe certain musical instruments to be sacred objects. Africa: Ceremony, Song and Ritual by Robert S. Smith did not disappoint either audibly or visually. An added bonus was soft singing and chanting from the band members as an accompaniment.
Dr. DeRenzis Strauss took her final turn at the conductor’s stand with Symphony No. 4: Bookmarks from Japan. Composer Julie Giroux based the composition on a series of bookmarks she had in her possession that featured Japanese wood cutouts. (DeRenzis Strauss pointed out that works from one of these artists, Hiroshige Ando, was on exhibit at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art which she had the pleasure of visiting.) The music was a lighter refreshing musical presentation, with some big sweeping sounds representing scenes from the bookmarks. If you listened carefully, you could hear a river running.
Dr. Carmichael closed the concert with Highlights from the Sound of Music by Richard Rogers. clearly a favorite among all age groups in the audience.
The concert was well attended. South Kansas City is fortunate to have Dr. Carmichael, who retired from his role as Director of Bands at the University of South Florida so that he and his wife could live closer to their children and grandchildren.
Pinnacle Winds’ next performance is “The Love of Giving” on December 15 at St. Peter and All Saints Episcopal Church. For more information, visit pinnaclewinds.com
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