Program
The Thunderer - John Philip Sousa
What Goes in the Night - Julie Giroux
Salvation is Created - Pavel Tschesnokoff, arr. by Bruce Housknecht
Contrasto Grosso - Jacob de Haan
About the Artists
The Cleveland Winds is a professional-quality wind ensemble based at Cleveland State University. The ensemble roster includes many of the best musicians in the Cleveland area, including professional performers, music educators and exceptional amateur musicians. The Cleveland Winds is dedicated to excellence in wind band performance and repertoire.
The ensemble won the American Prize in Band/Wind Ensemble Performance—Community and School Division and performed at Severance Hall at the Northeast Ohio Band Invitational, sponsored by the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony, in January 2018.
The Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony (CYWS) was founded in 1989 by Dr. Gary M. Ciepluch and Robert McAllister and is now in its 32nd season. 1995-96 marked the initial season for the CYWS Group II, and a second Group II was added in 2009. Sponsored by the Cleveland Institute of Music, the program was established to provide a musical venue for the most outstanding high school woodwind, brass, and percussion musicians throughout Northeast Ohio. Rehearsals run from mid-September through early May each Saturday morning at The Cleveland Institute of Music and at Case Western Reserve University.
The mission of the group is to perform the most significant wind band repertoire, and to provide the opportunity for outstanding young musicians to rehearse and perform together on a weekly basis. Selection in the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony is determined through auditions held each May for the following fall. Every year, approximately 400 students audition for selection into one of the three ensembles. In addition to the concerts they perform each season in Severance Hall, the home of the world renowned Cleveland Orchestra, the groups have performed numerous times at conventions and festivals, and in concert halls throughout the United States and abroad. In 1992, the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony was invited to perform at the Music Educators National Conference held in New Orleans, Louisiana. CYWS Group I has performed eight times at the Oho Music Education Association State Convention. In June 1994, the group began a series of international concert tours. They have performed in Germany, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Australia (two times), New Zealand, Scotland, England, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Hungary, Luxembourg, Austria, and the Netherlands. In 2018 CYWS embarked on its 14th international concert tour to Italy with performances in Santa Margherita Ligure, Montecatini Terme, Florence, and Rome. As part of this concert tour, CYWS was invited to perform two concerts as a headline group for the Florence, Italy Festival of Youth Orchestras.
