Vu Nguyen, who joined the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences last fall as director of winds, will conduct the WUSTL Wind Ensemble in a free concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28.
“We are very pleased that Vu Nguyen has joined our musical community,” says Dolores Pesce, PhD, the Avis Blewett Professor of Music and chair of the music department. “In his brief time here, he has already revitalized our wind program by setting up a large wind ensemble that draws in talented students.”
The performance will open with selections from The Danserye by Renaissance composer Tielman Susato (c.1510-1570), as arranged by Patrick Dunnigan. Next, the Wind Ensemble will present Contre Qui, Rose by Morten Lauridsen (b. 1943), as arranged by H. Robert Reynolds.
The program will continue with selections from The Bach Buch, featuring Carter Pann’s recent transcriptions of works by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750); and Kaddish, a choral work by W. Francis McBeth (1933-2012), based on the chant of the traditional Jewish prayer.
Concluding the program will be Chester, William Schuman’s (1910-1992) reworking of the popular American Revolutionary War marching song by William Billings.
The performance will take place in the Ballroom Theatre of the 560 Music Center, located in University City at 560 Trinity Ave., at the intersection with Delmar Boulevard.
For more information, call (314) 935-4161 or email pat@wustl.edu.
Nguyen holds a Master of Music in instrumental conducting from the University of Oregon, where he was a graduate teaching fellow, and a Bachelor of Music in music education from the University of the Pacific. He currently is completing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Washington, where he was the graduate teaching assistant for the wind band program.
In addition to his WUSTL appointment, Nguyen is a captain and commander/conductor of the Air National Guard Band of the West Coast. Stationed at Moffett Federal Airfield in Mountain View, Calif., the ANG Band is responsible for providing public concerts and musical support throughout Northern California, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. Nguyen received his commission from the Academy of Military Science and finished as a distinguished graduate.
A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Nguyen previously taught public school in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District. He has conducted throughout the western United States and in Japan and maintains an active schedule as a clinician and guest conductor.