DePauw Band plans collaborative Old Gold Weekend performance

Friday, October 3, 2014
The DePauw University Band will perform "October" Sunday afternoon in collaboration with dancers from the DPU group Company Unspoken. The 3 p.m. concert will be staged in Kresge Auditorium of the Green Center for the Performing Arts.

"October is my favorite month," composer Eric Whitacre writes. "Something about the crisp autumn air and the subtle change in light always makes me a little sentimental."

Travel back to childhood Sunday and imagine sitting by a window, watching leaves in the wind as dancers from Company Unspoken join the DePauw University Band in a performance of "October," composed by Whitacre, conducted by Craig Paré with choreography by senior André Williams.

The collaborative Old Gold Weekend performance is set for 3 p.m. Sunday in Kresge Auditorium of the Green Center for the Performing Arts.

Williams was just founding his new dance company at DePauw when he received the invitation to choreograph "October."

Nonetheless, when Paré proposed the idea of a joint performance, it was truly an offer Williams could not refuse, he said.

"I'm thankful for the opportunity to work with such an amazing professor and influence on my life," he said. "When coming up with the choreography, I focused primarily on capturing Whitacre's description of the piece and, after listening a great deal, took myself back to what I remember most about fall during my own childhood."

Paré said some good music has been planned.

"It's exciting the students as we've been playing it," he added.

In addition to "October," Sunday's concert will include John Adams's rhythmic "Short Ride in a Fast Machine," "Sunrise at Angel's Gate" by Philip Sparke, which depicts one of the American West national parks, "Molly on the Shore" by Percy Grainger, and the first movement from "Petite Symphonie" by French composer Charles Gounod.

The program concludes with a tone poem, "La Fiesta Mexicana," by H. Owen Reed.

General admission tickets for the concert are $3. Seniors, children and all students are admitted free.

As in the past, in lieu of an admission fee, the band is also accepting donations of non-perishable food items for the benefit of the Putnam County Emergency Food Pantry. Requested items include chicken noodle or vegetable soup, pork and beans, canned fruit, peas, carrots and corn. Monetary donations to the Food Pantry will also be accepted.

For more information, persons may contact Dr. Paré (cpare@depauw.edu) or visit the box office on the ground floor of the Green Center at 605 College Ave. (658-4817 or www.depauw.edu/music/tickets).

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