Oct. 10, 2008

Bismarck, ND--Dennis Gowen, director of bands and brass studies since 1987, will conduct the University of Mary Concert Band on Sunday, Oct. 26. Scheduled for 3 p.m. in Our Lady of the Annunciation Chapel, the performance will feature several outstanding works and two remarkably talented U-Mary music students. Shawna Metzger, a graduate of Williston H.S., will perform Leroy Anderson's timeless "A Trumpeter's Lullaby" with the band. Metzger is a junior majoring in music education and music performance.

Winnipeg native John March also will be featured as a student conductor with the band. March will conduct "In Flight," by Samuel Hazo. March began his private conducting studies with Gowen this fall, and hopes to gain valuable experience as he prepares for more conducting work at the graduate level.

Also on tap is a John Philip Sousa march written 100 years ago. "Fairest of the Fair," which paid tribute to a pretty girl he spied at the Boston Food Fair that year, is one of Sousa's more melodic, less militaristic marches. Don Gillis's beautiful "Spiritual" and Tchaikovsky's amazingly energetic, challenging, and highly spirited "Dance of the Jesters" will round out the concert.

For more information, contact Dennis Gowen at dcgowen@umary.edu.