Bridget Veltri
arts@mustangdaily.net
This year’s Open House Concert will give attendees the opportunity to travel the world, by ear at least, when they perform “Around the World in 80 Minutes,” for the concert, which will take place this weekend.
The Cal Poly Symphony and Wind Ensemble, along with the University Jazz Band will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday April 18 at Harman Hall in the Performing Arts Center, featuring 100 of the university’s student musicians.
“We will be playing all sorts of music from all over the world,” Cal Poly Wind Ensemble director William Johnson explained. “It is like getting on an airplane and going around the globe musically.”
The student musicians are a good representation of both the music department and student population at Cal Poly, as they represent a wide variety of colleges and departments.
“Most of the members of the Cal Poly music department ensembles are not music majors,” University Jazz Band director Paul Rinzler said. “You have people from all sorts of majors representing Cal Poly.”
Johnson said that he hopes the concert will draw potential students and their families visiting the campus for the Open House.
“This will be one of the most entertaining concerts we have done,” he said. “When the audience comes to the concert they will have been at Open House all day and we want to entertain them, rather than lull them to sleep.”
First stop on this musical journey is Latin America with conductor David Arrivee and the Cal Poly Symphony. They will be performing Piazzolla’s “Tres Movimientos Tanguisticos Portenos” (movement 2) and Marquez “Conga del Fuego Nuevo.”
Rinzler and the University Jazz Band will also be showing the audience the jazzier side of Latin America and Caribbean. They will also feature songs of Africa when they perform “Amlaj Abet Abet,” a 1970s Ethiopian pop tune.
“I remember when I first heard it sounded unlike anything I had heard before, said Rinzler, of the Ethiopian piece. “But despite that it fit the big band very well.”
Like traveling itself, preparation for the concert proved to be a bit taxing on some of the musicians.
“The fact that these pieces are from all over the world in one concert is a real challenge,” Johnson explained. “It is tough to change styles and cultures at the drop of a hat, but it is wonderful.”
Johnson and the wind ensemble will complete the international rendezvous with a Russian excursion. They will play excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s “Capriccio Italian,” Shostakovich’s “Festive Overture” and Rimsky Korsakov’s “Scheherazade,” before returning the audience to Latin America for a brief jaunt to Brazil, where Brazilian conductor Dario Sotelo will lead the finale.
“You get a really diverse range of excellent music,” Rinzler said.
Tickets to the concert range from $8 to $19. Patrons with season tickets to the music department’s events will receive a 10 percent discount. A 15 percent discount will be offered to those who purchase tickets to five or more events.