IVCC jazz, wind ensembles to open fall season

The Illinois Valley Community College’s Jazz Ensemble and Wind Ensemble open their fall seasons with separate concerts next week.

The Jazz Ensemble will perform at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 3, and the Wind Ensemble will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6. Both concerts are free and will be in the Dr. Mary Margaret Weeg Cultural Centre.

The Jazz Ensemble concert will feature selections with soloists, standards and some surprises. Among the tunes will be “A Foggy Day,” “How Sweet It Is,” “Sophisticated Lady” and “In the Mood.”

The Wind Ensemble will perform a selection written by Austyn Edwards, an Illinois Valley composer for the Ottawa High School Band in 1964, as well as the music of Jaime Texidor, Glenn Osser, Ronald Lo Presti, Dmitri Shostakovich, Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim, and Vincent Persichetti. Selections include “Bolero for Band,” highlights from the musical “Gypsy,” and “Elegy for a Young American,” which is dedicated to the memory of President John F. Kennedy.

The Jazz Ensemble is under the direction of Brandon Czubachowski. The Wind Ensemble is under the direction of Phil Whaley.