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Comprised of approximately 40 students, the Wind Ensemble is one of the premiere ensembles in the School of Music, and is directed by Dr. Paula Holcomb. The group is currently preparing for an international tour to China (May 2008), where they will be the featured band in an international festival of bands.
The concert April 16 will include some of the works the Wind Ensemble will perform overseas. It features several special guest performers, including SUNY Fredonia trumpet professor, Roderick MacDonald; guest conductor, Dr. Calvin Hofer; and SUNY Fredonia music major, Danae Caradonna. The program includes works by Henri Tomasi, Scott McAllister, Aulis Sallinen, Colin McPhee, Gustav Holst and Chen Qian.
Dr. Hofer is currently Head of the Music Department and Director of Wind Studies at Mesa State College where he conducts the MSC Wind Symphony and teaches applied trumpet. He is principal trumpet with the Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra as well as the Mesa State College Faculty Brass Quintet. He also plays principal B-flat cornet with the Rocky Mountain Brass Band in Silverton, Colorado.
Ms. Caradonna (North Tonawanda, NY) is a senior at SUNY Fredonia where she is completing a double major in Music Education and Clarinet Performance. She has played with the American Legion Band Post 264 for the past two summers and is currently principal clarinetist of SUNY Fredonia’s College Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, and Co-Principal of the Wind Ensemble. She recently gave her senior performance recital, and will be receiving one of Fredonia’s highly regarded Performer’s Certificates. This May, she will be given the great opportunity of performing Black Dog in China while touring with the Wind Ensemble. In addition to her musical studies, she has also been the recipient of the Norman A. Schoell Scholarship from the Community for a Greater Buffalo Foundation for the past two years. Upon graduating, she plans to pursue a Master’s Degree in Music Performance and continue on the path to becoming a professional musician.
Mr. MacDonald's has appeared worldwide as a trumpet soloist. His concert career as soloist began after Kurt Masur, then Music Director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, appointed him Principal Trumpet of that orchestra in 1989. Since then, Mr. MacDonald has performed as soloist with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic, Virtuosi Saxonia, Bach Collegium Munich, Leipzig Bach Orchestra, Leipzig Chamber Orchestra, Concerto Leipzig, Kammerphilharmonie Leipzig, and the Super World Orchestra (Tokyo). The most recent of his many solo recordings was named "CD of the Month" by Naxos in December 2003. In July/August 2003, the American Record Guide wrote: "MacDonald is an outstanding player who strives more for elegance and grace" "His style is regal and vocal, and his sweet tone is rounder and darker than we usually hear from trumpet players, baroque or otherwise. I would call it the quintessential German sound - from an American trumpet player..."
