Students use wind power

As part of the Faculty and Friends Concert Series, the Buffalo State College Wind Ensemble will perform 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Rockwell Hall.

According to music department chair Bradley Fuster, the music department at Buffalo State College has always held concerts with special guests and student ensembles, but this set of concerts is a newer creation.

"It's been only recently that we've sort of packaged (these performances) as a series," said Fuster. "I think this is year two of actually putting everything on one brochure and putting it all together as a Faculty and Friends series."

The series features all types of performers such as teachers, members of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Buffalo State College students themselves.

The Buffalo State Wind Ensemble is the college's top group for wind, brass and percussionplayers, Fuster said. 

"The Wind Ensemble was recently accepted to perform at the North East College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) this spring in central Pennsylvania," he said. "It's a very prestigious thing."

Professor Rick Fleming, who has been working with the ensemble since 2001, conducts the Buffalo State Wind Ensemble.

"I enjoy it immensely," Fleming said. He said it's the always-changing students and pieces that keep his job interesting.

The performance will feature Don Harry, Principle tuba of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and professor of tuba at Eastman School of Music in Rochester. He will be performing the piece "Concerto for Bass Tuba" by Ralph Vaughn-Williams. "Professor Don Harry is just an amazing player and even more amazing person," Fleming said. "A lot of great performers don't have that ability to make people feel comfortable around them, and he's very good at that."

Fleming said that four student conductors will also be featured, which he does to give the students the real-life experience they don't get in conducting class. The student conductors being featured in this concert are Russell Carere, Brenna McCabe, Teresa Leone and Matthew Seeman.

Carere, a senior music education student, said playing with a great ensemble like the Buffalo State Wind Ensemble is a great opportunity. He said he's grateful to go to a college where he is able to practice conducting.

"We're doing a lot of different pieces this concert so time is limited. Every minute counts in rehearsal," he said. "The fact that (Fleming) lets us get up there and get a feel for it is great."

They will be performing pieces by Vaughan-Williams, Joel Puckett, Frank Ticheli and others. Tickets are $10 for the general public and free for students.

This performance is the fourth of the concert series this year. There are five more concerts left in the series after Thursday's performance, including another performance by the Wind Ensemble at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 16 at Kleinhan's Music Hall.

Mia Summerson can be reached by email at summerson.record@live.com.