On November 16, the Dartmouth Wind Symphony will present "Musical Time Machine, A Millen nium Reprise," the first of three concerts this year chronicling music from the 13th century to the 1900s.
The student ensemble will be conducted by Max Culpepper, and the DWS will welcome special guest soloist Ron Modell.
Modell, a former member of the music faculty at Northen Illinois University, has enjoyed an illustrious career. He embarked on his first professional tour at the age of 17 as first trumpet for Cornelia Otis Skinner's production of "Paris 90."
A year later, he was given a contract with the Tulsa Philharmonic Orchestra as principal trumpet along with a full scholarship to the University of Tulsa.
Upon Modell's graduation from Tulsa, Maestro Paul Kletzki enticed him to join the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 1960. Modell remained in Dallas for nine years. During that time he had the opportunity to play under renowned conducters such as Munch, Dorati, Previn and Mancini.
In 1969 Modell joined Northern Illinois University as Professor of Trumpet and later founded the NIU Jazz Emsemble. During his tenure of 28 years, Modell was the recipient of Downbeat Magazine's Achievement Award for Jazz Education and the Illinois Alliance for the Arts Education Service Recognition Award.
In 1996, Quincy Jones selected Modell to play at the Montreux Jazz Festival in a celebration of Jones' music.
After leaving NIU, Modell joined Phil Collins on the pop star's 1998 world tour.
Modell teaches and plays music with the philosophy that "whether it be one note, a scale, or a concerto, it must always be musical and in good taste." To this end, the musical purist always keeps a button pinned to the inside of his trumpet case that reads, "Go Home and Practice."
With Modell's help as featured soloist, Dartmouth Wind Symphony director Max Culpepper will present a broad range of musical styles in his portrayal of the second millennium's many musical trends.
The program begins with an excerpt of Ron Nelson's "Homage to Machaut." Nelson's piece is an arrangement of themes by 14th Century composer Guillaume de Machaut, whose compositions are considered to be the first instrumental music that was performed on its own instead of as accompaniment.
More familiar composers come into the program after admission, when Culpepper conducts pieces by such masters of chamber music as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven and Richard Strauss.
The audience may be surprised by the odd turn the DWS will take next, when they parody an American Town band by imitating them as best they can--with embarrassing errors and generally befuddled playing.
Rounding out the band themes are more traditional renditions of Charles Ives and John Philip Sousa marches.
Shifting emphasis again, the DWS will pay tribute to opera, featuring an aria in which Ron Modell will join the symphony.
Perhaps only opera fans will recognize Wagner's "Invocation of Albereich," but most everyone should be familiar with Rossini's "William Tell Overture," of which the DWS will play excerpts.
Two original works for large wind ensemble of the 20th Century, Schoenberg's "Theme and Variations" and Hindemith's "Symphony for Band in B flat" will bring the program into the mid-1900s.
The night will finish with an arrangement of Duke Ellington's jazz themes in "Ellington Portrait."
The Dartmouth Wind Symphony plays "Musical Time Machine: A Millennium Reprise" at 8 pm in Spaulding Auditorium on November 16.
