Holiday Prism Concert

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The Los Alamos Community Winds is beginning to plan for its annual Holiday Prism Concert. The performance will be held at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, December 3 at Crossroads Bible Church. As always, LACW would like to feature a diverse set of performers from the greater Los Alamos community. We have spots open on the program for soloists and ensembles of any kind. The only requirement is that the musical presentation must have a holiday or winter theme. In the past we have had a wide variety of offerings from vocalists and handbell choir to more exotic instruments like Chinese Harp and Theremin. If you are interested in joining us for the annual holiday celebration, please contact LACW at  info@lacw.org.

Concert Sat Oct 8 at Crossroads Bible Church

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The Los Alamos Community Winds will present it’s 2022-2023 Season Opener “Musical Gemstones – Rare Works and Transcriptions for Band” at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8 at Crossroads Bible Church. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free. A donation of $10 per guest is graciously and gratefully requested.

Having just completed a very exciting and busy season which included traveling to Hawaii as New Mexico representatives at the Pearl Harbor 80th Anniversary Celebration, and then co-hosting the 2022 National Convention for the Association of Concert Bands, LACW will be presenting a concert of somewhat lesser-known works. The selections include both original works for band as well as orchestral transcriptions.

Chief among these works is the Ballet Music from Charles Gounod’s 5-act grand opera, Faust.  The complete Ballet Music from the opera (which occurs during the 5th act) was first arranged for band about 1880 – only some 21 years after the opera’s initial performances. Although achieving  great recognition in the early 20th century, it is currently rarely performed.

Additionally, the Los Alamos Community Winds will be performing a seldom heard work that actually explains itself in the title. Edvard Grieg’s Symphony in C minor (The Forbidden Symphony) contains a hand-written notation by Grieg himself on the original manuscript score that says “må aldrig opføres. E.G.” which translates from Norwegian as “must never be performed” – hence it’s designation as “forbidden.” LACW will be performing the 2nd movement of this rare “musical gemstone.”

Other selections on the concert will include music by Percy Grainger, W. Francis McBeth, Roland F. Seitz, and Gordon Jacob.