By Blake Moren
A&E Page Editor
At 3 p.m. on Oct. 9 at the Cameron University Theatre, the Cameron University Concert Band and the Cameron / Lawton Community Band presented a concert titled “Light and Darkness”. The press release for the event on the Cameron University website said that all of the musical numbers for the concert were to portray light or darkness in some way.
The CU Concert Band includes students Mykayla Waller, Darien King, Morgan Chisholm, Alexis Davila-Colon, Harlie Hardage, Matthew Hogg, Haylie Kousman, William Magee, Nicholas Raso, Michael Richard, Jamie Riha, Bellemarie Saucedo, Gina Staffieri, Nathan Timpson Whitlow and Matthew Young, Irmtraud Bryant, Ryley Balius, Brandi McCarley, Troy Spurlin and Owen Ellis.
The Cameron / Lawton Community Band consists of local music teachers, Cameron students and high school students.
In the press release, Lucas Kasper, the conductor of the CU Concert Band and the Cameron / Lawton Community Band stressed the important of having new music available for both the audience and musicians.
“As I wanted to present ‘Symphony of Light’ during this concert,” Kasper said, “I decided to feature music that focuses on light or darkness.”
After purchasing a ticket for the concert, audiences walking into the Cameron Theatre and were able to see the CU Concert Band practicing and preparing for the concert. As the concert begins, Kasper walked onto stage and took hold of his baton and conducted the CU Concert Band.
The first song they performed was “Spirals of Light” by Sean O’Loughlin, which the press release described as a “high energy piece that features the brass section performing a fanfare style.”
After every movement or song was finished, Kasper stood aside and took a small bow as the audience applauded.
The next song was called “Symphony of Light” by Ed Huckeby. This song has four movements: “Daybreak”, “Reflections”, “Neon” and “The Dark Side of the Moon”. The latter movement featured Cameron piano students Gina Staffieri and Lillie Hodgson.
After “Symphony of Light”, the band performed Daniel Bukvich’s “Voodoo”, the closing song for the CU Concert Band. During the performance, the theatre’s lights turned off. The theatre remained lit only by a few lights from the stage. The sounds of rain and animal sounds were heard during this magical performance.
The press release said this song “is not a typical concert band work; rather, it was to be highly theatrical and requires the musicians to play their instruments in atypical ways.”
Once the CU Concert Band concluded their performance, an intermission began. During the intermission, members of the CU Concert Band left the stage, and members of the Cameron / Lawton Community Band took to the stage.
After the intermission, the first song they performed was titled “Light Vibrations” by Sammy Nestico, “Moon by Night” by Jonathon Newman, “Ghost Walk” by Christopher Brubeck, “Dusk” and Steven Bryant, and “Golden Star” by John Philip Sousa.
The last song the Community Band performed was “The Empire Strikes Back (Finale)” by John Williams. This song was a medley of musical themes from the 1980 film of the same name: “Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back”.
Before the song began, Kasper thanked the audience for their attendance and went on to conduct the Community Band. Once the Community Band finishes their performance, the audience stood and applauded them.