Wind Ensemble

Timothy J. Robblee, Artistic Director & Conductor

Music without Borders

A powerful evening of music shaped by history, displacement and artistic resilience unfolds with Paul Hindemith’s Symphony in B-flat for Band, a cornerstone of the wind repertoire composed after Hindemith fled Nazi Germany for the United States. Alongside it, Kurt Weill’s Kleine Dreigroschenmusik — a spirited suite drawn from The Threepenny Opera — blends cabaret flair with biting satire from another German émigré turned American icon. Gustav Holst’s majestic “Jupiter” from The Planets adds depth, written by a British composer of German descent who changed his name during World War I to escape anti-German sentiment. The program concludes with Hymn of the Fallen by Erik Ruane ’27 (Bachelor of Music in Composition), winner of the 2025 William Averitt Prize for Excellence in Composition, offering a contemporary voice that resonates with themes of loss and remembrance. This concert stands as a tribute to the enduring power of music across borders, eras and identities.