Pease, who will lead the ensemble on the legendary stage, has conducted two previous Carnegie Hall performances, including the Wind Ensemble’s last in 2018. One of the new pieces, “Rings,” is his own composition.
“The piece was inspired by viewing planetary rings, which look beautiful and pristine from a distance,” he explained. “But then, as you zoom in, you see they are just chunks of ice and dust…and yet they’re still beautiful.”
The second piece was commissioned by Joni Greene, an Austin, Texas-based composer who has written extensively for wind ensembles. Her work, “Splitting Light,” continues the astronomical theme and was inspired by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, located on a mountaintop in Chile.
“Joni has been a wonderful collaborator, showing an immediate interest in contributing to our students’ experience,” Pease attested. “Not only are she and her family joining us in New York for the performance, but she’s also providing two on-campus residencies to work with our students in advance.”
The department has also invested in new equipment to bring this performance to life. This includes a new set of crotales (a percussion instrument consisting of 12 small, thick cymbals tuned to a chromatic scale), which will make its Hartwick debut.
The total cost for this endeavor is approximately $25,000 — a bargain, considering the unmatched experience it will provide for students. Several alumni and friends of the College have already stepped forward to contribute, including the husband-and-wife team of Bryan ’08 and Marissa ’08 Del Bene, who played in the band as students and continue to do so today as community members. French horn player David Dewey has also joined them in helping to alleviate some of the expenses.
“It has been wonderful to see the support we’ve received thus far, but we always invite others to join in our success,” Pease noted. “Additional funding would allow us to take our ensembles on tour and provide other unique experiences for students.”
We would love to have a formidable section of Hartwick fans in Carnegie Hall this March! If you would like to join us for the concert and/or reception, please register at hartwick.imodules.com/Carnegie26. And if you are interested in supporting the Wind Ensemble in this or future initiatives, please contact [email protected].
To contribute to the Together, We Soar campaign, visit www.hartwick.edu/togetherwesoar or contact the Office of Advancement at 607-431-4081 or [email protected].
