AMERICAN WIND SYMPHONY CONCERTS WILL BEGIN TONIGHT

Rain or shine, the American Wind Symphony Orchestra will perform in Cape Girardeau today through Sunday.

In the event of rain, Saturday's main concert would shift from Capaha Park's Municipal Band Shell to Academic Hall on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University. The concert is scheduled for 8 p.m.

(A complete schedule of the mini concerts is listed in today's Arts and Leisure section.)

The Friday concert, scheduled for noon on the terrace of Academic Hall, would be moved to inside in the event of rain.

Dan Cotner, who is one of the local organizers of the concerts, said the impending retirement of American Wind Symphony Orchestra conductor Robert Boudreau creates an uncertainty of future concerts here.

"Since Robert Boudreau is retiring after this year, nothing has been decided about future plans for the orchestra," Cotner said. "They might come back here in the near future and they might not."

This will mark the orchestra's seventh trip to Cape Girardeau. The vessel Point Counterpoint II will be permanently moored in Minnesota after Boudreau retires at season's end July 9.

The vessel was unable to make the trip this year because of flood conditions on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

Nine of the musicians have already arrived in Cape Girardeau. Cotner said there is still a need for volunteers to house the professional musicians.

Volunteers interested in housing one or two musicians should call Danna Cotner-Blackwell at 335-6022 or 335-0791.

"This phase of our residency program is extremely important," said Boudreau, founder and director of the American Wind Symphony Orchestra. "We offer a rare opportunity to a child whose sole experience with a musician may have only been at a distance in a concert hall or in a student-teacher relationship."

It also gives the people a chance to know the musicians better and enables the orchestra to feel as though it has become part of the community, Boudreau said.

There is also a need for corporate sponsorship. "We're about $4,000 short of the $15,000 it takes to sponsor an orchestra for four days and nine mini concerts," Cotner said.

Corporate sponsors can contact Cotner at 335-6022 or 335-8533 before or after the orchestra performs in Cape Girardeau.