Los Alamos Community Winds will perform its final concert of the 2023-2024 season at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Crossroads Bible Church. Courtesy photo
By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com
A lot of great stories – either on the stage or on the screen – come with some great music. The Los Alamos Community Winds (LACW) will feature some of these memorable scores in its final concert of the season, “Music from the Stage and the Screen”.
The concert will be held 7 p.m. Saturday at the Crossroads Bible Church. Admission is free but there will be a $15 suggested donation.
A few program highlights, according to LAWC Artistic and Musical Director Ted Vives, are: Hedwig’s theme from “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”, music from “How to Train Your Dragon”, selections from Stravinsky’s suite from the ballet, “Petrushka” and Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain”, which is a popular piece of music that many in the audience will recognize from its use in Disney’s “Fantasia.”
Vives said LACW is looking forward to the concert, explaining, “it was fun putting it together.”
He added it is “challenging for a wind ensemble to do orchestral music (but) LACW has once again risen to the challenge.”
Furthermore, Vives said LACW wanted to “end the season on a big note.”
Looking back at the whole season, he said it was a good one.
“The best thing was we felt that this year we finally came out of the shadow of COVID,” Vives said.
He said the LACW returned to its previous level of quality.
“We always strive to be a top-notch concert band,” Vives said.
He added that LACW has earned national and international recognition, pointing out that the winds had been featured on The BrassCast podcast. Additionally, LACW hosted the 2022 National Convention of The Association of Concert Bands, which Vives described as a “real shot in the arm”. So, by the time the 2023-2024 season started, he said the winds felt as though it was back to its top form.
Vives said he was proud of the most recent season, saying that the music the winds performed was “tremendous”.
His favorite concert, thus far, was the one LACW co-hosted with the Los Alamos Choral Society.
For Saturday’s performance, Vives encourages families to come out and listen to the music.
“We want to aim the music at families; we want people to bring their kids,” he said.
First, because music is important, Vives said, and secondly because “it is just a good family outing.”
There will also be two special events Saturday’s concert. First, LACW will announce and award the recipients of the annual Music-Filled Life Scholarship. The scholarship was founded to recognize student achievement in music and in particular, students who intend to continue their involvement in music either professionally or otherwise after high school.
Additionally, since so much of the music is aimed at families, LACW will be giving away free fidget spinners to any concert attendees ages 12 and younger who show up in costume from either the “Harry Potter” series or “How to Train You Dragon”.
Saturday’s concert may close the 2023-2024 concert season, but the public will still see LACW in action during the summer. Vives said the winds will perform during the Fourth of July celebration and it may be taking the stage as an opening act during the Summer Concert Series.
The 2024-2025 LACW season kicks off with the first concert at 7 p.m. Oct. 12 in the Betty Ehart Senior Center.
