SEMO Symphony, Cape Band to play concert

The Southeast Missouri State University Wind Symphony and Cape Central High School's Concert Band will present a fall concert Tuesday, Oct. 24, at the River Campus in Cape Girardeau.

The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Bedell Performance Hall, located at 518 S. Fountain St.

Jim Daughters, assistant professor of music and director of bands at SEMO, said he is happy to be sharing the concert with Cape Central.

"We're trying to include some of the regional bands so they can play on a great stage and hear us play," Daughters said. "It's good recruiting for us but, also, we like to showcase them and give them a great place to play."

He said Cape Central's concert directors, Josh LaMar, Billy Keys and Michael Harrer, will open the concert with three pieces -- "Camelia City March" by R. Alan Carter, "Halcyon Hearts" by Katahj Copley and "Palette" by Randall Standridge.

Daughters said there is not a specific theme for the night's music other than "songs I love." He said he selected music that will push his students.

"It's a collection of music that will force them to learn things and hear things in ways that they haven't before, and it really pushes the boundaries of what they're doing as musicians," Daughters said.

He said SEMO's Wind Symphony will open with "Molly on the Shore" by Percy A. Grainger, an old Irish folk tune, also known as a "reel".

"Typically, reels are dance music played with fiddle and drums," Daughters said. "So, trying to do that with wind instruments is really challenging. It's super quick and student's fingers will be flying the whole time."

For another piece, "New England Triptych" by William Shuman, Daughters said it uses a harmonic language students are not traditionally exposed to.

"Music that we have being written now, in a lot of ways it combines bebop and rock and things like that," Daughters said. "This is rich harmonic language that comes from the first half of the 20th century that they are not accustomed to hearing so it's pushing their ears to hear things in a different way."

Daughters said two faculty members, Deborah Caldwell and Nicholas Kenney, will be featured players on "Concerto for Two Trumpets" by Eric Morales.

For more information and to purchase tickets, contact the River Campus Box Office at (573) 651-2289 or online at www.SEMO.edu/river-campus-events/calendar.