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MSU Wind Symphony Selected for CBDNA Event
Ensemble under the direction of Professor of Music Kevin Sedatole to perform at prestigious collegiate band conference.
Kansas City, here they come.
In March 2017, the MSU Wind Symphony, under the direction of Kevin Sedatole, will share their artistry as a featured performer at the biennial College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) Conference in Kansas City, Missouri.
"This is as high as it gets in the collegiate band world," says Sedatole, a professor of music, director of bands, and chair of the Conducting Area in the MSU College of Music. "It's a great opportunity to showcase MSU and our program to other people and to the rest of the country."
Sedatole says being selected to perform at the national convention is comparable to making a top bowl game, and positions MSU alongside the best collegiate band programs in the country. The symphony was selected through a highly competitive blind audition process that involved a panel of judges’ review of CDs submitted from across the country. Sedatole also took the MSU Wind Symphony to the convention in 2009—making the 2017 appearance the second of his 11 years with the College of Music.
The MSU Wind Symphony will perform music by J.S. Bach and four contemporary compositions—all with ties to MSU. Two of the pieces are premieres of original works by new MSU composition faculty members David Biedenbender, assistant professor, and Zhou Tian, associate professor. The third composition is a trumpet concerto by John Mackey that was commissioned by MSU for Justin Emerich, MSU associate professor of trumpet. The fourth piece by Steven Bryant was commissioned by current and former College of Music conducting students as a gift honoring Sedatole's 10th anniversary at MSU.
"I was just blown away that the students did that for me," says Sedatole. "It was really a surprise, and it's hard to surprise me. It was very sweet."
All four composers will attend the concert on Thursday, March 16, at 8 p.m. in the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts—Kansas City's world-renowned concert hall. The 2017 CBDNA Conference is hosted by Conservatory of Music and Dance, at the University of Missouri at Kansas City.
