The NDSU Wind Symphony, under the direction of Warren Olfert, director of bands, is scheduled to present “Rhapsody in Blue,” George Gershwin’s popular composition for solo piano and jazz band, Saturday, Oct. 19, at 7:30 p.m. in Festival Concert Hall. Tickets are $5 for adults, $2 for students and seniors and are available only at the door.
Donna Lee of Kent State University will be the featured piano soloist. Having made her solo debut in 1990 with the National Symphony Orchestra, Lee has appeared as a soloist at the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center. She has performed in Asia, Europe and throughout the United States. Lee is on the faculty for Kent State University and is the co-director of the Piano Institute.
Written in 1924, “Rhapsody in Blue” features an opening glissando for solo clarinet, which will be performed by School of Music junior Zachery Pavlicek. A native of Dickinson, N.D., Pavlicek was accepted to participate in the Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium last summer in addition to attending Interlochen Music Camp in Michigan and the International Music Camp in North Dakota in past years.
Other pieces to be featured during this performance include “American Salute” by Morton Gould; “O Magnum Mysterium” by Morten Lauridsen; “Concertpiece No. 2 for Two Clarinets” by Mendelssohn; “Concertino for Four Percussion and Wind Ensemble” by David Gillingham; “Prokofiev’s March,” Op. 99; “Color” by Bob Margolis; and “Firefly” by Ryan George.
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.