This logo is 10 years old and looks it

Are you interested in wind band music? Do you want to support music education in NYC public schools? Do you like the shape of a triangle? Have you ever wondered what kind of weird noise a bassoon makes? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you should put aside your midterms for a couple of hours and come on down to Roone Arledge Auditorium and listen to some incredible wind ensemble music.

This afternoon, the Columbia University Wind Ensemble is presenting their annual Columbia Festival of Winds (or CFW, for short), an event that brings ensembles from the greater New York City area together in an afternoon-long concert. The concert will start at 1 pm and continue until about 5:30 pm; audience members are invited to come and go between ensembles as they please.  CFW this year features the Princeton University Wind Ensemble, Mark Twain Concert Band, Grand Street Community Band, and Kings County Concert Band, as well as Uptown Vocal (for a different kind of wind). Proceeds from the event go to support Musical Mentors Collaborative, a Columbia student-run organization that provides free music lessons to elementary school students at P.S. 145. This year, the CU Wind Ensemble’s repertoire will feature several premieres, including the world premiere of a piece by Vice President (and friend of Bwog) Brent Morden, CC ’19.

In honor of 10 years of CFW, the CU Wind Ensemble has extended their event this year to include an Honor Band, consisting of talented high school students from the greater NYC area (and two students from Alabama) who rehearsed all day with guest clinician Prof. Randall Coleman. The Honor Band will open the concert at 1 pm today. The concert’s full schedule is:

  • Honor Band: 1:00 PM
  • Grand Street Community Band: 1:45 PM
  • Princeton Wind Ensemble: 2:20 PM
  • Kings County Concert Band: 2:55 PM
  • Uptown Vocal: 3:30 PM
  • Mark Twain Concert Band: 3:50 PM
  • Columbia University Wind Ensemble: 4:25 PM
  • Massed Band: 5:00 PM

Tickets are $15 general admission, $5 with CUID and for children ages 18 and under. More information can be found on the event’s Facebook event and website.

Note: Senior Staff Writer Ross Chapman and EIC Betsy Ladyzhets are the current president and one of the vice presidents of the CU Wind Ensemble, respectively.

Poster via Sam Muller