Winter Winds blows in holiday-themed concert
Winter Winds concert brings a festive performance. (Nicole Bullard)
A mix of Saddleback College students and community members got together in the McKinney Theatre to play holiday-themed music in the Winter Winds concert last Thursday.
“It is the holiday season so I wanted to do a mix of holiday music and traditional band literature. It worked out,” said John Hannan, the director of wind assemble and the conductor of the concert. “I thought the concert was OK. We did well.”
At 8 p.m. the lights began to dim and the musicians did one last tune before the first piece.
The piccolo, flute, obeo, clarinet, sassoon, saxophone, french horn, trumpet, trombone, euphonium, tuba, and the percussion were all the instruments involved in the concert.
“Sleigh Ride” composed by Leroy Anderson, the first song, dove right into the winter holidays and prepared the audience for the rest of the concert.
The second piece, “The White Ensign,” showed some signs of tension with Hannan “stalling” while some musicians switched spots or got ready to play two instruments.
“We had a missing person, but the percussionist did a good job for filling in for him,” Hannan said. “It affected the concert a little bit because everyone was on edge, but it all worked out in the end.”
Hanna described the third composition as his favorite.
“I choose the music I did because I thought it would be appropriate for the beginning of the winter holidays,” Hanna said. “The third piece, December Dance, is my favorite from the concert.”
December dance showed that minimalism adds so much more when the musicians have pristine timing.
“The song is a great piece of music with many intricacies and solos,” Hanna said.
Guest conductor and trombone player, Kent Klingbeil, switched spots with Hanna to play his favorite piece of all time, “Fanfare and Allegro.”
“I have been in love with this piece since 1972,” Klingbeil said. “It has been buzzing around in my head ever since then, so it [was] with great pleasure to conduct the piece.”
While Klingbeil conducted, Hanna filled in for him on his instrument.
The fifth and sixth songs were “Fantasia in G” by Timothy Mahr and “Fantasia on Greensleeves” which was an exact transcription from Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Both songs had many notes and were originally made for an orchestra, but the musicians did a good job with the union of wind instruments and made it easy to listen to.
The night ended an hour later with its last tune, “A Christmas Festival” by Leroy Anderson.
“[That was] the best holiday tune every written and everyone will probably hear it everywhere they go this season,” Hanna said.
The next concert will take place next semester in March.
“The next performance will be an all Americana folk concert,” Hannan said. “It will be great. Everyone should come out to see it.”