Coming Thursday: WWU wind symphony to feature Roshanne Etezady

Western Washington University’s Wind Symphony will perform with guest artist Roshanne Etezady at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 19 in the Performing Arts Center Concert Hall.

The free performance will feature an eclectic mix of Wind Band classics and cutting-edge contemporary repertoire, as well as a number of original compositions by Etezady, who will be on campus for the WWU Wind Symphony Composer in Residence Series.

"I'm really excited about this upcoming performance.  There will be something for everybody,” says Christopher Bianco, conductor of the WWU Wind Symphony.  “Roshanne's music is really fantastic; the students have enjoyed working on it.”

In addition to the Thursday evening performance, Etezady will present an open master class for composers from 4-5 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 18 in room 47 on Lower Level II of the Performing Arts Center.

Both the evening performance and the master class are free and open to the public.

Hailed by the Detroit Free Press as “a promising and confident composer,” Roshanne Etezady is emerging as one of the most dynamic musical voices of her generation. Her music ranges from clever and colorful to sublimely subdued; it combines lyricism with rhythmic intensity and engages performers and audiences alike.

Etezady's works have been commissioned by the Albany Symphony, Dartmouth Symphony, eighth blackbird, Music at the Anthology, and the PRISM Saxophone Quartet. She has been a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. Performers and ensembles including Relache, Amadinda Percussion Ensemble, Ensemble De Ereprijs, and the Dogs of Desire have performed Etezady’s music throughout the United States and Europe.

For more information on this performance or the WWU Wind Symphony, please call (360) 650-3130 or visit http://www.wwu.edu/bands/windsymphony.shtml.