University Band offers ‘Ode to Joy’ Sunday at Green Center

The DePauw University Band’s spring concert will open with Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Green Center’s Kresge Auditorium. Interim director Ryan Yahl will conduct the performance benefiting the Putnam County Emergency Food Pantry.

Courtesy photo

Although spring showers may bring flowers, in Greencastle they seem to also bring an abundance of music. Before heading over to the fairgrounds Sunday for the Spring Fling Music Fest benefiting the Putnam County Non-Food Pantry, the DePauw University Band invites the community to its spring 2018 concert benefiting the Putnam County Emergency Food Pantry (PCEFP).

The band concert, which will be held in Kresge Auditorium, begins at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 29, allowing local music lovers to attend both events.

Standard works in the wind band repertoire and new pieces by younger composers beginning to make their mark will be offered on the program, alongside arrangements adapted from the choral, operatic, and orchestral genres — opening with an edition of Beethoven’s spirit-lifting “Ode to Joy.”

Serving as the conductor, while Professor Craig Paré is on sabbatical, will be interim director of bands Ryan Yahl, a doctoral student in wind conducting from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington.

“With such a variety of styles being performed, there is bound to be something on Sunday’s program that makes you want to tap your foot, or move along with a groove,” Yahl said, “or perhaps whistle as you walk out of the auditorium.”

“I wish to thank the band members for all of their work this semester and continued successes in the future,” the conductor added appreciatively. “My time here has been very rewarding. Hopefully, our paths will cross again somewhere down the road.”

Donations of non-perishable food items will be both welcomed and encouraged for beneficiaries of the PCEFP. Bring an item and redeem it for a complimentary ticket to the performance. Cash donations will also be accepted.

General admission to the University Band concert is $5. Tickets for seniors, youth and students are free.

Tickets can be obtained online at www.music.depauw.edu, or purchased in person at the Green Center box office, which will open 90 minutes prior to the performance.