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            Auburn University - University Relations
                         (334) 844-9999
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5/12/95                 Janet McCoy

AU SYMPHONIC BAND TO PERFORM AT OPELIKA ARTS CENTER

      AUBURN -- The Auburn University Symphonic Band will perform in 
concert Monday, May 22, at 8 p.m. in the Opelika Performing Arts Center. 
The public is invited to attend the free concert.
       The symphonic band, a select group of 75 musicians, is the 
premiere performing ensemble in the AU Band program.  The concert is part 
of a six-city tour and is sponsored by the Opelika High School Band.  
Conductor of the symphonic band is Johnnie Vinson, director of bands and 
a professor in the Department of Music at Auburn.
      The concert will open with "Fanfare and Flourishes," a festive 
work by Kentucky composer James Curnow.  The second selection on the 
program is "Folk Song Suite" by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Written in 1924, 
this three-movement composition has long been considered as one of the 
cornerstones in the band literature.
      Tim Wilson, a member of the symphonic band and a senior music 
major at AU, will be the featured soloist on "Fantasy for Euphonium" by 
British composer Philip Sparke.  Conducting this selection will be 
Timothy Kelley, associate director of bands at Auburn. 
      Special guest conductor for this concert will be Jeff Hudson, 
assistant band director at Opelika High School and an Auburn graduate.  
Hudson will conduct the John Philip Sousa march, "Washington Post."  The 
program will continue with "Puszta," a suite of four gypsy dances by 
Belgian composer, Jan Van der Roost, and conclude with "Adventure On 
Earth," a medley of John Williams' music from the motion picture "E.T."
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may95:AUband-Opelika
CONTACT: Vinson, 334/844-4166