UofL Wind Ensemble invited to perform at World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Conference in Prague

An international jury has invited the University of Louisville Wind Ensemble to perform at the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Conference (WASBE) on July 23, taking place in Prague, Czech Republic.

The biennial event has taken place in different locations all over the globe for the past 40 years. This year, the WASBE Conference will take place on Slavonic Island in the Žofín Palace on the Vltava River. Elite wind ensembles from Spain, Germany, South Korea, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Czech Republic and the United States have been invited to perform.

The University of Louisville Wind Ensemble will perform on the final day of the conference, Saturday, July 23, performing a program that will highlight the conference theme celebrating the life and work of Grawemeyer Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Karel Husa.

Husa’s “Concertino for Piano and Wind Ensemble” will feature UofL faculty artist Anna Petrova as soloist. The wind ensemble also will perform Husa’s symphonic work, “Cheetah,” which was commissioned by the UofL Division of Music Theory and Composition for the wind ensemble. It was Husa’s final work composed for the wind band medium; he died in 2016. Amy Acklin, UofL associate director of bands, will present an accompanying lecture on “Cheetah.”

As a thank you to donors and friends, the wind ensemble also will perform the Husa compositions, along with others, in a send-off concert in Comstock Hall on UofL’s Belknap Campus on July 18 at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free.

Director of Bands Frederick Speck conducts the UofL Wind Ensemble, consisting of approximately 46 student musicians.