Wilson Heading to Russia for Full Concert of His Works

Brian Wilson, Music Department Chair, has been invited by the city of Saratov, Russia, to conduct a full concert of his works, to be playedby the Volga Wind Symphony. The program opens with his Fastfare and includes Wilson's two tone poems, Orange Was Her Color and Danse Hellenica, his Symphony No. 3 and his orchestrations of the music of Percy Aldridge Grainger.

While in the mother country, Wilson will be guest conductor at the 2007 Russian State Seminar for Conductors and Organizers of Wind Orchestras. He will deliver a lecture on his book "Orchestrational Archetypes in Percy Aldridge Grainger's Wind Band Music" and guest conduct on concerts with the Governors Wind Orchestras of the Moscow and Nidgegorod regions and Russian University Bands.

Wilson is in his seventh year at SSU as conductor of the SSU Symphonic Wind Ensemble and head of Music Education. His most recent commission is for the combined forces of the Petaluma Chorale and Cinnabar Chamber Chorus to write a choral piece for next year's Sesquicentennial celebration of the City of Petaluma to be premiered in May 2008. 

Spring 2007 saw the premiere of Danse Hellenica for Symphonic Wind Ensemble, commissioned and performed by the Analy High School Honor Band, Sebastopol. The piece was inspired by Wilson's many travels to Greece. Each summer since 1989 he serves as Composer/Music Director for the Athens Centre Classic Theatre Program, composing and directing original operatic music for adaptations of the ancient Greek dramas.

Wilson recently received the ASCAP Award for Composition in the Concert Division, which he has received each year for the last 12 years. The award recognizes the activity generated by his catalog, with emphasis on the number of and geographical distribution of recent performances.