This year the College of Liberal Arts and the music department will host The California Wind Band Festival, a series of concerts featuring wind ensemble bands from all over the country.
The four-part concert series is taking place in San Luis Obispo in conjunction with the 73rd annual convention of The American Bandmasters Association.
Bands will be featured each night from March 7 to 10 in Harman Hall at the Performing Arts Center’s Christopher Cohen Center at 8 p.m. Eight hundred people will be in town this week for the events, including band members from seven different band organizations and the members of The American Bandmasters Association.
“This is such a wonderful thing because it features seven of the finest wind bands in America and Cal Poly has the opportunity to start it off with he first concert on Wednesday,” said Bill Johnson, Cal Poly wind ensemble director and Professor.
Johnson has been a member of The American Bandmasters since 1984. The highly-selective group does not have an open membership, members must first be elected and recognized by the association. Johnson has been a part of the preparation for these events for the last three years and will lead Cal Poly in the first performance opening night.
San Luis Obispo was chosen to host the event because of the beauty of the area, the performing arts facility and the excellence of the Cal Poly wind ensemble.
“We have been preparing for this concert since before winter break,” said Andrea Sisk, mathematics senior and baritone saxophone player in the Cal Poly wind ensemble. “We just played a concert in Santa Maria this last weekend with the same music and format to get all of our pre-concert jitters out.”
The Cal Poly Wind Ensemble will perform works by Nixon, Newman, Grantham, Melillo and Gregson when they take the stage on Wednesday night along with University of Oregon.
St. Cloud State University of Minnesota and Arizona State University will follow on Thursday night, and Ohlone College Wind Orchestra from Fremont and San Luis Obispo Wind Orchestra will continue the series in Friday night’s show.
On Saturday night, The United States Army Band, “Pershing’s Own” from Washington, D.C., will close out the four nights of musical achievement with a free show. The band is renowned as one of the nation’s premiere professional wind bands and will end their performance with the famous march, John Philip Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” Tickets for the other shows will range from $8 to $19.
“This show is going to be a once in a lifetime happening. Not all groups or bands can play this type of advanced material,” said Sisk.
While the concerts take place each night The American Bandmasters Association will be hosting conferences and meetings at the Embassy Suites Hotel in town as part of their convention.
“If I were a Cal Poly student, I would want to take advantage of the finest bands in America being on campus,” said Johnson. “This is an annual event but it will probably be the first and last time that it ever makes it to Cal Poly.”