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The SUNY Fredonia Wind Ensemble will open its season with music for all tastes on Saturday, Sept. 28.

“We will celebrate the opening of the year with John Williams, who composed the theme of the 1982 Los Angeles Olympics, and close with the classic ‘Symphonic Dances’ from ‘West Side Story,’ by Leonard Bernstein,” said Director of Bands Paula Holcomb.

The 8 p.m. concert in King Concert Hall is free and open to the public.

School of Music alumnus Dr. Scott Farkas will perform Dr. Jennifer Higdon's “Concerto for Percussion.” Through the generosity of the Sorel Charitable Organization through the Fredonia College Foundation, SUNY Fredonia has hosted international composers, including Ms. Higdon, who is the Claudette Sorel clinician for the 2024-2025 year, Dr. Holcomb said.

“Her innovative, visionary composition style, which has been recognized with a Pulitzer Prize, is clear in this work,” Holcomb said of the chosen Higdon selection.

Dr. Farkas, a 2008 graduate who majored in Music Composition and Music Performance, of Stony Point, NY, recently completed his doctoral degree at the University of Washington. “He represents one of our phenomenal alums,” Holcomb remarked.

Devin Banning, a graduate student in Music Performance: Conducting, will lead the wind ensemble in Steven Stucky’s arrangement of Henry Purcell’s “Funeral Music for Queen Mary.” Mr. Banning, of Getzville, NY, earned a Mus.B. in Music Education: Instrumental Concentration, at SUNY Fredonia in 2023. He is a graduate of Williamsville North High School.

“Join us for an evening of exciting music with loads of percussion and ‘West Side Story’ rocking King Concert Hall,” Holcomb said.