Contact: Anna Owens

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State’s premier concert band is traveling to Biloxi next month to perform for members of a prestigious national music association.

Taking the stage March 4 at 8:40 p.m. at the Beau Rivage Resort, the MSU Wind Ensemble will represent MSU as a featured university band at this year’s American Bandmasters Association Convention.

Led by MSU’s Director of Bands Elva Kaye Lance, the ensemble is performing concert pieces that include a debut of “A Southern Reflection,” a new work composed by MSU Department of Music Head and Professor Barry E. Kopetz, and a performance of “Slidin’ Down the Mississippi,” composed by MSU’s Associate Director of Bands Clifton Taylor who also will be featured on the trombone.

Lance, a recent ABA inductee, said the performance gives the band a chance to showcase its skills for a distinguished audience in an exciting atmosphere.

“We’re very proud to receive this honor and have the opportunity to highlight not only MSU’s music-making excellence, but to recognize other performers from Mississippi and the surrounding region,” Lance said.

Guest conductors alongside Lance and Kopetz include Dick Clardy, director of instrumental music at Fort Worth Independent School District in Fort Worth, Texas, and a member of the Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity Hall of Fame; Julie Giroux, an acclaimed wind ensemble and symphonic band composer who currently resides in Madison; J. Steven Moore, associate dean of undergraduate studies at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music; and Lawrence Stoffel, director of bands at California State University-Northridge.

Performing with the band for a rendition of Giroux’s “My Soul to Keep” are the State Singers, led by conductors Gary Packwood and Phillip Stockton, director and associate director of choral activities for MSU’s Department of Music, respectively.

Other performers throughout the six-day convention include the U.S. Air Force Concert Band and the Auburn University Symphonic Winds.

Selective membership for the ensemble is determined by competitive audition regardless of major. In addition to clinic and concert performances, the group has made international appearances in Italy, Austria and the Czech Republic.

Housed in the Department of Music, MSU’s band program includes students of all majors and provides opportunities for ensemble and auxiliary participants. Learn more at www.msuband.msstate.edu.

Founded in 1929, ABA’s invite-only membership recognizes outstanding achievements by concert band conductors and composers. For more information on the ABA convention, visit www.2020abaconvention.com.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.