Year after year, alumni members of NTU Symphonic Band return on Saturday evenings to the band room at Nanyang House to rehearse their music for the main band’s annual concert series ‘Sojourn‘.
“NTU Band holds a very special place in our hearts – it is where we have spent four years of our university life at. It is where we have made unforgettable memories, laughed and cried together and forged lasting bonds with each other,” said See Kah Siong, current president of the Nanyang Symphonic Winds (formerly NTU Alumni Band).
With the love for music and the passion to perform, it has driven many of its members to look for different avenues to play their instruments. The alumni band became the common platform for the members to relive those days and spend good times with their fellow friends whenever they returned for rehearsals.
“It is heartening to see our juniors continuing the NTUSB legacy batch after batch. We cannot deny that the repertoire is always interesting, and we also get to fulfil our dreams of playing the pieces that we always wanted to but didn’t get a chance to,” said Kah Siong.
For Sojourn this year, the concert repertoire includes some ‘unorthodox’ pieces that are technically and musically challenging.
Featured in Friday’s concert is James Barnes’ Scenes of the Aztecs, a rather new work that places heavy emphasis on rhythmic melodies, giving listeners an idea of the Aztec way of life. Another highlight is Leonard Bernstein‘s Candide Suite, which was decided based on the opinions of NTU Symphonic Band’s resident conductor Mr Takehiro Oura, who specially enjoys playing orchestral transcriptions for wind ensemble. While tough, the suite allows the band to show its listeners all the work that has been put in to perfect the music.
Other music in the concert include Naoki Tasaka’s March ‘Winds of Provence’, Rossano Galante’s Transcendent Journey, and Naohiro Iwai’s arrangement of Gershwin’s An American in Paris.
“Getting to do all these together with like-minded friends is the most important factor that keeps our alumni band together. It is also the reason for us to kickstart our very own alumni concert, which you can look forward to in June this year!”
Sojourn 2018
30 March, Friday
Victoria Concert Hall, 5pm
Tickets: $15
Tickets available from https://tinyurl.com/ntusb-sojourn-2018
A contributing editor at TBP.