The Yolo County Community Band and the UC Davis Campus Band announce a joint concert featuring music written by internationally known composers. The ensembles will perform together at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22, at the Pioneer High School Theater, 1400 Pioneer Ave. in Woodland.
The two ensembles have become known for their acceptance and appreciation for musicians of varied age and ability levels. Both groups welcome all performers, and enjoy the opportunity to perform for the public.
The UC Davis Campus Band will feature musical works by modern and 20th-century composers, including “Lightning Field” by John Mackey, “Ruckus” by Randall Standridge and “Candide Suite” by Leonard Bernstein and Clare Grundman.
The Campus Band also will perform “The Promise of Living” from “The Tender Land,” by Aaron Copland. This piece will feature guest conductor Sydney Bonnell, a senior music student and student director of the Cal Aggie Marching Band-uh.
The Yolo County Community Band’s musical selections will include “Machu Picchu — City in the Sky” by Satoshi Yagisawa, “October” by Eric Whitacre and “Tempered Steel” by Charles Rochester Young.
Tickets are $5 and will be available at the door.
The Yolo Community Band was founded in 2005 by music director and band leader Bobby Rogers. Rogers, a Woodland native, chairs the music department at Pioneer High School, conducts the Santa Rosa Youth Symphony and is an adjunct professor for the jazz program at Solano Community College.
He is a graduate of Sonoma State University (B.A. in music education and jazz performance) and Sacramento State (M.A. in wind conducting).
The Yolo Community Band, sponsored by YoloArts, performs five or six concerts annually, including a Spring Concert with the Rancho Cordova River City Concert Band, shared concerts with UC Davis ensembles, the Community Band Festival at Carmichael Park in Sacramento, the Golden Gate Park Band Festival in San Francisco, the Yolo County Fair in Woodland, the Yolo County Veterans Day ceremony at the County Courthouse in Woodland and a Winter Holiday Concert shared with Pioneer High School ensembles in December.
In June 2017, Yolo Community Band was invited to New York City to participate in the New York Sounds of Summer International Music Festival in Carnegie Hall. The band is planning a performance tour in Italy for summer 2020.
The band plays a wide range of musical styles, including traditional and contemporary concert band arrangements, marches, popular songs and musicals, jazz arrangements, patriotic and holiday selections.
The group includes 50 to 60 members who range in age from high school students to senior citizens and come from Arbuckle, Davis, Woodland, Dixon, Elk Grove, Zamora, Rumsey, Winters, Esparto, Yuba City, Sacramento and the Bay Area.
Rehearsals are Wednesdays from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Pioneer High School band room.
The UC Davis Campus Band is made up primarily of students attending the university. Josh Garcia, assistant director of the California Aggie Marching Band-uh,, directs the ensemble this year. He is a graduate of Colorado State University (B.M. in education) and the University of Louisville (M.A. in higher education administration).
The ensemble is offered only in the winter and spring quarters, and is open to all students and community members without an audition. There are a record 120 members this year, with educational backgrounds ranging from chemical engineering to managerial economics.
The band rehearses from 4 to 6 p.m. Fridays in the UCD Band Room. To join the band during the spring quarter, email Garcia at jmgar@ucdavis.edu.