Savannah Wind Symphony Presents Enigma

To begin our 49th season, your Savannah Wind Symphony presents a concert entitled “ENIGMA.”Expect the unexpected. Something about our selections may be puzzling, ambiguous, or inexplicable. We may present a riddle or statement with hidden meaning. Ultimately, our puzzle will be revealed as you take in the beauty and majesty of the music.

The character of our opening work, Fantasia in G by Timothy Mahr, is reflected in its German subtitle "Freude, Schöner Götterfunken” (“Joy, Bright Spark of Divinity”), the opening line of Schiller's “Ode to Joy” as used by Beethoven in his Symphony No. 9. The composer skillfully weaves these themes into this festive and bright fantasy. This truly uplifting concert piece will dazzle any audience!

Verdi’s opera, La traviata, explores themes of love, sacrifice, societal judgment, and the fleeting nature of life. Violetta's journey from a carefree courtesan to a tragic figure highlights the struggles against societal norms and personal redemption. The famous Prelude to Act One arranged for band by Leonard Falcone brings a thoughtful and beautiful hush over the concert hall.

“Laissez les Bons Temps Rouler” is the most used formal expression to convey “Let the Good Times Roll” in Cajun. This expression beautifully captures the essence of Cajun “joie de vivre.” Composer Brank Karrick helps us live in happiness and ebullience with his “zest for life” work entitled Bayou Breakdown.

Before our intermission, we have an adventure for you. If you have laid eyes on the majestic New York City skyline, dropped into one of NYC’s urban jazz clubs, or fastened your seatbelt in a wild taxi ride through the metropolis, then you have intel on how composer Robert Sheldon came up with Metroplex! Embrace the grandeur, the groove, and the thrill!

Gordon Jacob followed closely in the footsteps of Vaughan Williams and Holst in the early part of the twentieth century. Together they enriched the repertoire and raised the status of the military band, and of symphonic wind bands in general, as perceived by the musical establishment. Jacob’s eleven movement work, Music For A Festival, is a landmark piece with much to explore for the players and the audience. The Savannah Winds has chosen one movement, the Overture to open the 2nd half of our concert.

American Composer Julie Giroux writes, “Hymn for the Innocent is a tribute to all the innocent lives that are lost whether by accident, disease or acts of violence. It also includes all those who serve, here and abroad, military and domestic who have sworn to protect the innocent and have lost their lives or lead a handicapped life as a result of this service. What has been lost by their passing is an infinite list of possibilities. What they could have been, could have accomplished or achieved and the holes left in all the lives they touched and would have abected surely is a sorrow above all sorrows. What has been lost by their passing is an infinite list of possibilities.”

Edward Elgar composed his Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36, popularly known as the Enigma Variations, between October 1898 and February 1899. It is a work comprising fourteen variations on an original theme. Our Savannah Winds transcription for Band by Earl Slocum includes the original theme and six variations. Elgar dedicated the work "to my friends pictured within,” each variation being a musical sketch of or upon a musical idea related to one of his “circle of close acquaintances.” In a program note for a performance in 1911, Elgar wrote: “This work, commenced in a spirit of humor and continued in deep seriousness, contains sketches of the composer's friends. It may be understood that these personages comment or reflect on the original theme and each one attempts a solution of the Enigma, for so the theme is called.”

Rolling Thunder is a screamer (very fast march) composed by Henry Fillmore in 1916. Featuring a fast and extremely technical trombone part, it is usually performed at a quick tempo as an opener or encore of concerts. The piece is considered one of Fillmore's most popular marches and provides a perfect finale to our fall Savannah Wind Symphony opening concert.

Please join us on November 9 for the first concert of our 49th season at the Fine Arts Auditorium of Georgia Southern University on the Armstrong campus. On behalf of the entire 2025/26 Savannah Wind Symphony, we thank you in advance for your attendance and I look forward to seeing you on November 9, 2025. We invite you to become part of our appreciative and loyal audience. Spread the word. Come hear the band and bring a friend!