Wind Ensemble to play at historic venue and in Central Park in NYC 

The Fresno City College music department held a Carnegie Send Off Concert on April 6 before the Wind Ensemble left to participate in the New York International Music Festival at Carnegie Hall.

The Wind Ensemble, along with band director Dale Engstrom and FCC music department chair Larry Honda, who is always featured at NYIMF, performed six songs at the Old Administration Building Auditorium.

“Not everybody can come to New York to hear us, so we wanted to play our set that we’re performing there, for the people here, that are supporting us,” said Engstrom. “And it was another way of getting everybody together to make sure we are all packed and ready to go.”

According to Engstrom, 54 students will be featured as a showcase band at the festival on April 7-11. The Wind Ensemble, featuring Honda who will play a solo serenade, will be part of the festival’s finale and will play a 45-minute program, compared to 20 minute program that most of the other bands are scheduled to perform.

In order to participate in the festival, bands have to submit video and audio audition tapes, but the Wind Ensemble was personally invited to play on the Isaac Stern Auditorium Stage of Carnegie Hall by the NYIMF artistic director Dr. Lawrence Sutherland.

“That hall has so much history that I think it’s like in the floors, in the walls and everything,” said Honda. “And for myself, I’ve never played there, and for students, who’ve certainly never played there, it’s going to be really special, spiritual and mystical experience.”

Along with playing at Carnegie Hall, the Wind Ensemble will also play an outdoor concert in New York’s Central Park.

“I think it will be like a really good opportunity to see how professional groups tour and how they get to travel, and basically how they adapt to different surroundings when they are performing,” said FCC alumni and Wind Ensemble flute player Colleen Carlson. “So, going to the East Coast, it’s completely different weather, completely different hall, so we’ll have to adjust to all these things.”

According to Honda, the Wind Ensemble had been rehearsing for the festival since the end of the fall semester of 2012. They also held fundraising concerts and a silent auction to raise more than $100,000 so that every student was able to go.

“It’s a great thing for the band, for the music department and for the community,” said Engstrom. “It really puts a good spotlight on Fresno, I think.”