32ND SEASON | MARCH 8: GUEST CONDUCTORS AND GUEST SOLOIST - TAI MIKULECKY
February 24th, 2020
The Mesilla Valley Concert Band will present a free concert at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 8, in the Atkinson Recital Hall at New Mexico State University. Music will range from modern works for band to marches to solo features. The program is suitable for all ages.
The band’s director, Dr. William Clark, will be joined by two guest conductors for this concert. Mr. Jim Young has been a member of the MVCB percussion section for 20 years and has served as a guest conductor many times through those years. He will conduct Alfred Reed’s The Hounds of Spring: A Concert Overture for Winds. Mr. Johnny Lang is a euphonium and tuba player in the MVCB and is Director of Bands at Deming Public Schools. He will lead the band in Frank Ticheli’s Rest.
One of the highlights of this concert will be a virtuoso saxophone solo, featuring the band’s own Tai Mikulecky. She will perform Paul Creston’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Band - 1st Movement: Energetic. Tai is the Assistant Band Director at Las Cruces High School, where she teaches marching band, concert bands, jazz big bands, and a jazz improvisation class. She has performed with the Supersax of the Southwest and the Border Jazz Orchestra. She recently graduated from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Tai said she chose the Creston Concerto because of its beautiful melodies and majestic feel. Contrasting sections switch between fast flourishes and flowing melodies.
The concert also features Ronald Lo Presti’s Elegy for a Young American, written in memory of President John F. Kennedy in 1964, Girolamo Frescobaldi’s Tocatta, and Arthur Frackenphol’s arrangement of Charles-Camille Saint-Saens’ Pas Redouble.
The concert is free and open to the public. Seating is first-come, first-served. We look forward to you joining us for this engaging and varied program.