This Sunday’s concert concluded the BUTI summer experience for many of our students. The Young Artists Wind Ensemble’s final concert was one rich with emotion and energy. The brass opened the concert with the Vienna Philharmonic Fanfare by Strauss, which painted Ozawa with the robust hues of the rich brass ensemble. The piece was followed by O Magnum Mysterium. Originally written for chorus by Lauridsen, the piece was transcribed for orchestra by the ensemble’s conductor, H. Robert Reynolds. The ensemble really captured the original vocal character of the piece by digging into the unique suspensions and harmonies. We had the exciting opportunity to hear from the composer of the next piece. Salfelder introduced her piece, Crossing Parallels, to the audience and discussed the 2 contrasting motives that are woven throughout the piece and their common origin, drawn from Dowland’s “Flow My Tears”. The first half closed with Grantham’s Baron Cimetiere’s Mambo, a fascinating work that evokes a strange sense of malevolent festivity. After intermission the ensemble swept the audience away with John William’s Sound the Bells, full of soaring brass and playful woodwind filigree. The Wind Ensemble’s beloved manager Jennifer Bill was featured in Ticheli’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble. The bird themed movements demonstrated the 2 extremes of her virtuosic playing. The first, Silver Swan, was elegant and introspective while the second, Black Raven, was frenetic and energetic pushing her technical abilities to the extreme. The concert closed with Daugherty’s Bells for Stokowski, a bombastic piece of increasing textural complexity. Daugherty often starts with a single theme and expands it, builds it up, and allows the piece to swell and rise to a crescendo of volume and activity. The piece concluded with a wild and glorious eruption sound; percussionists were wailing on the chimes, bass drum, and cymbals while the winds were pouring all their passion and energy into the last few glorious bars of their concert. The rest of the weekend was filled with heartfelt goodbyes as the Wind Ensemble students prepared to return home. Their presence here is sorely missed. We take solace in the knowledge that this summer for them here at Tanglewood is not the end but rather the beginning. We eagerly wait to see if any will return in the future as students and even as staff. Even for those that don’t return we eagerly wait; we have seen the fire in their eyes and felt their joy when they play music and we can’t wait to see how they will continue to both as musicians and adults. Congratulations, YAWE, on a successful summer, it has truly been a pleasure making music with you. We look forward to seeing your continued growth in the future.