Saturday, June 28, 2025 - 2:00pm
1590 27th Ave. ~ Vero Beach, FL 32960
GREENWOOD God Bless the USA
PISZCZEK American Frontier Suite WORLD PREMIERE
DRAGON America the Beautiful
LOWDEN Armed Forces Salute
SOUSA Washington Post
WHITACRE Ghost Train
WHITACRE Sleep
TRAD Battle Hymn of the Republic
SOUSA El Capitan
SOUSA The Liberty Bell
Summer wouldn’t have the same sizzle without a patriotic concert by your Space Coast Symphony Wind Orchestra. This FREE red, white and blue concert will honor all those who have worn our nation’s uniform. This all-American program will showcase our national heritage, as conductor Aaron T. Collins directs the wind orchestra with music by Mark Piszczek, Eric Whitacre, Lee Greenwood, and marches from “The March King,” John Philip Sousa. The concert features Eric Whitacre’s thrilling Ghost Train. In this highly programmatic work, Eric transforms a story from American folklore of a supernatural locomotive that roars throughout the Western U.S. Rich in special effects and unique compositional techniques, this dynamic piece creates vivid aural images as the train leaves the station and passes through a varied landscape. The concert will also feature the World Premiere of Mark Piszczek’s American Frontier Suite, a new version for wind band which features songs from the Old West and American frontier, including “Bury Me Not on The Lone Prairie,” “Tumbling Tumbleweeds,” “Yellow Rose of Texas,” “Red River Valley” and others.
Artist Information
Mark Piszczek (b. 1957) is a native of central Florida where his parents worked in the fledgling space program. A professional performer on both oboe and saxophone, Piszczek has a deep background in both jazz and classical music. He has led his own groups and worked as a studio musician for over thirty years. Piszczek's father was a devout fan of classical music and it played daily on the family phonograph. This early exposure to concert music and the presence of highly competent music teachers, instilled a love of music that later turned into a lifelong passion. The composer cites the music of Karel Husa, Bela Bartok, Hindemith, Miles Davis, Chick Corea and Ralph Towner as key influences in his early musical development. Piszczek studied oboe at the University of South Florida and The University of Wisconsin, Platteville. After years of performing and recording professionally as a jazz artist, he decided to return to his classical roots and received a master’s degree in composition at the University of Southern Maine in Portland, where he studied with composers, Elliott Schwartz and Dan Sonenberg. He has written hundreds of jazz compositions, a flute sonata, two woodwind quintets, a string quartet, four works for chamber orchestra, a brass quintet, a trio for clarinet, viola and piano, a symphony for winds and percussion, a major work for symphony orchestra, Songs from the Gulf of Sorrows, which was premiered by The Brevard Symphony Orchestra in 2016, a trio for flute, clarinet, bassoon and piano based on native American folk songs, a trio for woodwinds and a new orchestral work dedicated to Lalo Schifrin, Walter Scharf and Elmer Bernstein. He now resides in Melbourne FL. and performs with his Orlando based, progressive jazz group, Strange Angels as well as musical collaborations with lifelong friend, composer and multi-instrumentalist, Larry Williams.