The ensemble was founded as the University Chamber Band in 1954. Under the direction of Mallory Thompson, the Symphonic Wind Ensemble has participated in dozens of commissioning consortia
and presented numerous world premieres, winning acclaim from composers John Adams, Michael Colgrass, John Corigliano, Karel Husa, Morten Lauridsen, David Maslanka, Jonathan Newman, Carter Pann, Joel Puckett, Joseph Schwantner, and Augusta Read Thomas. This program: Richard Strauss - Born in Munich in 1864, he is recognized as one of the last great romantic composers. Because of the forces required, Festmusik der Stadt Wien receives relatively few live performances. Conceptually it is modeled after the antiphonal works of Giovanni Gabrieli, showcasing two instrumental choirs passing musical material back and forth. The result is an impressive mixture of technical brilliance and timbral beauty. Joel Puckett - Have you also learned that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time? That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere... This is the inspiration for "... secret from the river." The work as a whole is cast in two large sections: first, an exploration of pure harmonies that are distorted and made hazy through glissandi into sound masses; and second, a series of variants on a familiar harmonic motive. Carter Penn - He has received numerous honors, including a Grammy nomination for his piano concerto, first prizes in the Zoltán Kodály and François d'Albert International Composition Competitions, a Charles Ives Scholarship from the Academy of Arts and Letters, and five ASCAP composer awards. In 2016 Pann was named a Pulitzer Prize for Music finalist for his saxophone quartet The Mechanics: Six from the Shop Floor. My Brother's Brain: A Symphony for Winds is a triptych of sound paintings