Metropolitan Wind Symphony to Present Spring Band Concert: “Transformations

The MetWinds will continue its 53rd season with their in-person Spring Band Concert on Sunday, May 5, 2024 at 3:00 PM, at the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum, 33 Marrett Road, Lexington, MA. MetWinds conductor Richard E. Wyman will also present a free pre-concert lecture at 2:30 PM inside the concert hall. 

Enjoy this afternoon of transformative music, opening with a 1906 opera overture, The Wreckers, by English composer and member of the women’s suffrage movement Ethel Smyth, whose amazing music is now, a century later, gaining its due recognition. Musical variations and transformations are explored in Copland’s treatment of the famous Shaker melody Simple Gifts, as well as the wonderful 2010 composition by New England Conservatory composition faculty member Michael Gandolfi, Flourishes and Meditations on a Renaissance Theme. Meghan MacFadden conducts the “riotously funky” Blow it Up, Start Again, for which the score’s program note indicates, “if the system isn’t working anymore, then do what Guy Fawkes tried and go anarchist: blow it all up, and start again.” Local middle and high school students join the MetWinds for performances of selected works, including Old Home Days by American renegade and New England’s own master of musical transformation, Charles Ives. The program will also feature Americans We by Henry Fillmore, A Little Tango Music by Adam Gorb, Metamarch by Steven Bryant, and The Liberty Bell March by John Philip Sousa. 

Richard E. Wyman, MetWinds Music Director is the former Assistant Director of the United States Coast Guard Band, where he served as conductor, Education Director, and producer. He is currently the Executive Director of the Community Music School in Centerbrook, CT and Choir Director at Noank (CT) Baptist Church. 

Meghan MacFadden, MetWinds Assistant Conductor is a musician and educator based in Amherst, Massachusetts. She is also currently Director of the Wind Ensemble at Smith College, Assistant Conductor of The Valley Winds, and Staff Accompanist at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst. In addition to her conducting role at MetWinds, Meghan plays piccolo in the ensemble.

Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors, $5 for students, and are free for children under 5. They are available at the door. Tickets can also be purchased online: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/metwinds-spring-2024-concert-transformations-tickets-720533323567

MetWinds also participates in the Card to Culture program, a collaboration between the Mass Cultural Council and the Department of Transitional Assistance, the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Nutrition Program, and the Massachusetts Health Connector, by broadening accessibility to cultural programming.

Massachusetts EBT and WIC cardholders can show their EBT or WIC card at MetWinds indoor Lexington concerts to pay only $2 per adult or $1 per child (age 6+). Children under age 6 are free. There is no admission limit per cardholder. We cannot process EBT or WIC transactions; cash or other payment must be provided for admission.  

Visit the MetWinds web page at http://www.metwinds.org or call the MetWinds Concert Line at (978) 419-1697 for more information. Email [email protected] with any questions. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. 

Founded by Jerry Gardner in 1971, the Metropolitan Wind Symphony, a concert band, is currently celebrating its 53rd anniversary. The MetWinds comprises over 70 talented woodwind, brass, and percussion instrumentalists who audition for membership and seating. It makes a significant contribution to the cultural life of the Greater Boston community by providing its audiences with high quality concerts and its members with opportunities for musical growth.

This and other concerts by the MetWinds are funded in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.