Hodgson Wind Ensemble experiments with first concert of fall 2016

The UGA Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s premier wind band, the Hodgson Wind Ensemble, will perform their first concert of the season in Hodgson Concert Hall on Tuesday, September 13, at 8 p.m.

The ensemble will perform three works, all of which stand as some of their composers’—Julius Fučík, Karel Husa and David Maslanka—most notable works. And in an effort to broaden the reach of the concert and bring the music to more people, the ensemble is experimenting in several extra-musical ways for this performance.

There will be no admission charge—attendees will only be encouraged to bring a canned food item to be donated to the UGA Food Bank. Also, any attendees in balcony seats to the left or right of the stage are encouraged to bring their phones and join a conversation on social media about the concert in real time. 

Using the hashtag #HWElive, those in “tweet seats” can share video, talk about what they’ve heard and even ask questions that participating faculty and graduate students will answer. With the concert set to stream live on the School of Music's website—music.uga.edu/streaming—viewers from all over the world can join in this discussion.

The program begins with Maslanka’s “A Child’s Garden of Dreams.” Composed in 1981, the work, often considered Maslanka’s first symphony, is an original interpretation of Carl Jung's writings about a young girl who dreams her own death.

“What Maslanka is able to do with his innovative use of color and melody is move the listener in ways we rarely see,” said Cynthia Johnston Turner, director of the Hodgson Wind Ensemble. “Maslanka doesn't shy away from composing music about big things—life, death, the nature of consciousness—and he does it in incredibly effective ways.”

Husa’s “Music for Prague 1968” has been performed over 7,000 times since it’s creation in 1969. It is a kind of musical memoir, recalling Husa’s flight from Czechoslovakia in 1968 as Soviet forces invaded and oppressed his home city.

“In anger and frustration, he wrote this powerful piece which became kind of an instant classic,” said Johnston Turner. “Although written for a specific event of war, I think it speaks to a larger, more universal human condition of oppression.”

While the first two works explore horrors external and internal, they are peppered with what Johnston Turner calls “moments of pure light,” and the final work of the concert embraces that lightness. Fučík’s “The Florentiner March” is one of his most widely known works, written by the Czech composer in 1907.

The UGA Hugh Hodgson School of Music sponsors more than 350 performances each year. To view the performance calendar, subscribe to the weekly email concert listing or learn more about the School of Music, go to music.uga.edu.