Courtly Airs on the Horizon Spring Concert

The Savannah Wind Symphony is proud to announce our Spring Concert, the 2nd concert of our 49th season entitled, “Courtly Airs on the Horizon” coming up on March 1, 2026. This concert has range stretching from music of the renaissance to Richard Wagner’s immortal “Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral.” New American compositional voices like Steven Bryant, Andrew David Perkins, and Katahj Copley are also featured.

We open the concert with Symphonic Fanfare, an exuberant concert opener by Mark Camphouse. A product of the rich cultural life of Chicago, composer-conductor Mark Camphouse (b. 1954) holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in music from Northwestern University where he studied conducting with John P. Paynter, composition with Alan Stout, and trumpet with the late Vincent Cichowicz. Camphouse went on to additional trumpet study with legendary Chicago Symphony Principal Trumpet Emeritus Adolph Herseth. He retired in 2022 after holding academic positions in Virginia at Radford University and George Mason University.

Savannah Wind Symphony concertgoers love when we feature “our own” as soloists. We do to, and this concert features 2 outstanding musicians. Tim Kintzinger, Trumpet and Mark Spradley, Trombone. Tim is the trumpet teacher and member of the music faculty at the Gretsch School of Music at Georgia Southern University. Mark is a professional trombonist and music educator who maintains an active career as an orchestral trombonist and holds positions in the Savannah Philharmonic, the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, and the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra. He is the founder and leader of the Savannah Trombone Choir. Tim will perform Nexus for trumpet and Band by James Curnow, and Mark will perform Kaleidoscope for Trombone and Band by Belgian composer Steven Verhelst.

American composer Ron Nelson (1929-2023) has contributed greatly to the repertory for bands and wind ensembles. He studied at the Eastman School of Music with Howard Hansen and in France at the École Normale de Musique and the Paris Conservatory under a Fulbright Grant. Often described as the "quintessential American composer," his work is noted for its ability to blend conservative and contemporary styles. We have chosen his 6-movement “Courtly Airs and Dances” from 1995. It is considered a masterwork for both educational and professional bands and is best described as a stylized set of Renaissance-era dances characteristic of five different European countries during the 16th century.

Oh, there will be more, much more! See our website for the entire program.

We hope you will join us on March 1, 2026, for our Spring Concert 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 at the concert hall. We invite you to become part of our appreciative and loyal audience. Spread the word. Come “hear the band” and bring a friend!