Wartburg Wind Ensemble to perform April 27 in Belvidere
Waverly, IA (04/14/2022) — The Wartburg College Wind Ensemble will kick off its 2022 American Heartland Tour on Wednesday, April 27, with a 7 p.m. concert at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 1045 Belvidere Road.
Jenna Smuszkiewicz, a junior who plays the oboe/English horn, is from Belvidere, and Jen Diemer, a senior who plays the clarinet, is from Sycamore. Freewill donations will be accepted, with all proceeds benefiting future Wind Ensemble tours.
Under the direction of Craig Hancock, the 45-member Wind Ensemble will perform repertoire from a variety of works that includes everything from John Philip Sousa marches to pieces from contemporary composers like Aaron Copland, Samuel Hazo, Eric Whitacre and Julie Giroux. Brian Pfaltzgraff, Wartburg music professor, will join the band as a tenor soloist for some pieces. "Everyone will find something during the concert that will reach out and touch them," Hancock said. "Whether you want to be entertained, educated or somewhere in between, we'll get your hands clapping, your toes tapping and hopefully some appreciative smiles for the great work of these fine youngsters."
The tour will take the ensemble through Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and Minnesota.
The Wind Ensemble is an auditioned group comprising the college's finest wind and percussion players. Its members are first- through fourth-years and represent nearly every academic major on campus. Most members are in multiple music ensembles and almost all are involved in other co-curricular activities. The Wind Ensemble tours each spring and schedules an international tour every third year during Wartburg's one-month May Term. The last tour took the ensemble to Japan in 2019.
Wartburg, a four-year liberal arts college internationally recognized for community engagement, enrolls 1,543 students. Wartburg is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and named after the castle in Germany where Martin Luther took refuge disguised as a knight during the stormy days of the Reformation while translating the Bible from Greek into German.
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