The Little Rock Winds and conductor Israel Getzov present the band’s 25^th Anniversary Concert 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 25 with a program of musical connections and milestones of the band’s 25-year history.

The concert opens with Camille Saint-Saens’ Marche Militaire Francaise which was also the opener for the Little Rock Winds’ first concert on February 8, 1994.  Also on the program from that first concert is John Philip Sousa’s lesser-known march, Foshay Tower Washington Memorial March. (At the time of 1994 concert, the march had made been available for performance only five years earlier.)

A familiar face, saxophonist Jackie Lamar, who has soloed with the band under each of the previous conductors, will perform a movement from “Radiant Blues”, an alto saxophone concerto composed by former Arkansas resident Charles Booker, Jr. and dedicated to Lamar.  West Mountain Fantasy by William Randall, Jr., is another work on the program by an Arkansas composer.  The piece is dedicated to the Little Rock Winds and Wendell Evanson, conductor, and was premiered by the band in February 1999.  Along with other selections on the program is Percy Grainger’s Lincolnshire Posy, a masterwork for wind band all will certainly enjoy.

Second Presbyterian Church, 600 Pleasant Valley Drive, Little Rock.

Tickets are available online at lrwinds.org and are $15 for adults, $12 for adults 65 and over, and free for students.

Program

• Camille Saint-Saens     Marche Militaire Francaise
• Howard Hanson           Symphony No. 2 “Romantic”, mvt. II
• Percy Grainger             Lincolnshire Posy
• William Randall            West Mountain Fantasy
• Charles Booker, Jr.       Concerto for Alto Sax, Mvt. 1: Radiant Blues
• Frank Ticheli                 Blue Shades
• John Philip Sousa         Foshay Tower Washington Memorial March

Conway native Jackie Lamar, saxophone, has performed all over the United States as well as in Thailand, Iceland, Scotland, France, Spain, Slovenia, Croatia, and Bolivia.  She performed at the World Saxophone Congresses in Valencia, Spain, and Montreal, Canada.  She is an active member of the North American Saxophone Alliance, serving as Region 4 director for 15 years.  She is recorded on Music for the Cross Town Trio on Centaur Records.
Lamar is recently retired from the University of Central Arkansas where she was Professor of Saxophone and Jazz for 32 years.  She is one of only four females in the USA to ever be full professors of saxophone.  She holds the Doctor of Musical Arts in Saxophone Performance and Master of Music Education from the University of North Texas and the Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Central Arkansas.  Her principal teachers were Debra Richtmeyer, Jim Riggs, and Homer Brown. This Lamar’s third solo performance with the Little Rock Winds.

Israel Getzov has won wide acclaim for his ability to evoke expressive and enthusiastic performances from his musicians.  He is in demand as conductor in the United States, China, and Bolivia. he is also the music director of the Conway Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Advisor to the Orquesta Filarmónica de Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.  In the U.S. Getzov has conducted ensembles in Arkansas, California, Florida, New York, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, Louisiana, Michigan, and Maine. Since his debut at the International Fuzhou Music Festival in 2005, Getzov has appeared regularly in China in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Zhengzhou, Fuzhou, and Hangzhou where he is a frequent guest conductor with the Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra. He is also an in-demand educator of ensemble techniques and has given clinics at many conservatories in the U.S. and China.

As the Associate Conductor of the Arkansas Symphony from 2001-2008, Getzov led classical subscription, pops, and education concerts as well as numerous outreach concerts around the state. Getzov also hosted his own weekly radio program called “Izzy Investigates” on KLRE Classical 90.5 in Little Rock and has performed live on WFMT and WBEZ in Chicago.

Raised in Chicago, Mr. Getzov’s musical studies began with the violin at age four, and later included percussion, which he played in his schools’ wind ensembles and jazz bands. At sixteen he earned a position in the violin section of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. He has performed with many renowned conductors including Barenboim, Boulez, Solti, Mehta, Jansons, Spano, and Rostropovich. He was a founding member of the Rockefeller String Quartet, a professional quartet with whom he gave over 200 concerts.

Getzov holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University and a master’s degree in conducting from the Cleveland Institute of Music and received additional training at the American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival and the National Conducting Institute with the National Symphony Orchestra.

Little Rock Winds was founded in 1993 to recognize the diverse heritage of the wind band tradition in Arkansas. It is dedicated to providing Arkansas communities live wind band music, including a variety of compositions and transcriptions that inspire audiences, challenge the players, and preserves the wind band tradition. LR Winds is an important outlet for the wind and percussion musicians in the central Arkansas area. The approximately 48 professional and semi-professional musicians are selected by audition and participate for personal development and enjoyment and as a service to the community. Six concerts are performed annually in Little Rock, and the band has performed statewide, from Texarkana to Cherokee Village, Harrison to Wynne.

Little Rock Winds an independent, nonprofit organization.