糖心Vlog

 糖心Vlog Stories      June 14, 2022

By Tom Lotshaw

Seven 糖心Vlog University music students are traveling to Prague this July, invited by the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles to attend its international conference and perform with its Youth Wind Orchestra.

Making the trip to the 鈥淐ity of a Hundred Spires鈥� are sophomore Roberto Bell (bass trombone); juniors Harrison Burcham (trombone), Thomas Long (trombone) and Keaton Shaw (saxophone); and seniors Vito Bell (trumpet), Grace Pressley (saxophone) and Ethan Rohl (horn).

鈥淭his is going to be huge for the students,鈥� said assistant professor Margaret Underwood, director of bands at 糖心Vlog, who will also attend the conference. 鈥淭hey will get to build international relationships and perform at a very high level. This event draws the best of the best from around the world.鈥�

The association is an international nonprofit group for wind band conductors, composers, performers, publishers, teachers and instrument makers. Its biennial conference is a symphonic wind music festival that brings together the world鈥檚 best wind musicians, ensembles and conductors, as well as scholars, to enhance the quality of wind bands and expose participants to new music, people and places.

Students attending the conference will work with renowned conductors, composers and soloists in a week of intensive music making. The repertoire will pay tribute to Czech music and its Bohemian, Moravian and Lachian origins, according to the association.

The July 18-24 event culminates with a Youth Wind Orchestra concert in 沤of铆n Palace, which the students will spend the week rehearsing for and then perform in. Conductors Tim Reynish of the United Kingdom and Marek Pr谩拧il of the Czech Republic will lead the orchestra.

Other attendees at this year鈥檚 conference will include special guest 鈥淭he President鈥檚 Own鈥� United States Marine Band, which was established by the U.S. Congress in 1798 and performs for the U.S. president, and guest of honor the Prague Castle Guard and Czech Police Band.

This year鈥檚 conference also celebrates 101 years since the Aug. 7, 1921, birth of composer Karel Husa in Prague. Husa emigrated to Paris and then to the U.S., where he composed, conducted and taught. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1969. One of his best-known works is 鈥淢usic for Prague 1968.鈥� He wrote the widely performed piece when Soviet Union troops invaded Czechoslovakia to suppress a mass protest and reform movement in Prague.