Conducted
by Dr. Russel Mikkelson, the Ohio State University Wind Symphony
is widely recognized as one of the country’s elite
wind bands. Committed to the creation of new music for winds,
this ensemble has commissioned music by composers including
David Maslanka, Eric Stokes, Dan Welcher, David Gillingham,
John Stevens, Donald Crockett, Daniel Godfrey, Charles Rochester
Young, William Bolcom and Aaron Jay Kernis.
One of the goals of the Wind Symphony is to provide students
opportunity to interact with some of the leading composers
and musical minds of our time. Visitors have included such
notable musicians as John Corigliano, Lukas Foss, Krzysztof
Penderecki, Gunther Schuller, Jennifer Higdon, Frank Ticheli,
John Mackey, John Stevens, Steven Bryant, David Gillingham,
Jonathan Newman, Roger Cichy and Percy Grainger biographer
John Bird. Graduates of the Wind Symphony hold positions as
professional orchestral musicians, soloists, conductors, members
of the Washington-based military bands, university professors,
and some of the world's leading music educators.
Since 1998 the Wind Symphony has recorded four compact discs
including Sounds, Shapes and Symbols (Mark
Records 2001), Jubilare! (Mark
Records 2003), Winds
of Nagual (Naxos 2007), and
Southern Harmony (Naxos 2009). The Wind Symphony
has performed at the 2003 College Band Directors National Association
Convention,
the Ohio Music Educators Association Conference four times
(2001, 2004, 2006, 2008), with BalletMet Columbus (2003), and
presents numerous on-campus performances.
Please
go to the Recordings page
to hear audio clips of Wind Symphony CDs.
