The Heisey Wind Ensemble continues its 18th season with a holiday concert titled "Christmas, the Joy and Spirit." The concert will be held at 8 p.m. on Friday (Dec. 13) in Swasey Chapel on the Denison campus, conducted by Dr. Russel Mikkelson. Dr. Mikkelson is a professor of music at Ohio State University and visiting music director of the Heisey Wind Ensemble while Professor Richard Blatti is on leave.

The program includes many holiday favorites by Leroy Anderson, music from the Nutcracker, "Greensleeves," Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," and Dello Joio's "Scenes from the Louvre." Denison President Dale Knobel will narrate "Christmas Rhapsody" by Jim Curnow. Susan Powell, assistant professor of percussion at Ohio State University, will perform two ragtime xylophone pieces.

Tickets are available at the door; cost is $10 for adults, $5 for seniors and students, and students under 12 are free. Denison University faculty, staff and students are admitted free with their Denison ID. Area band directors have free student passes available for their students.

The remainder of 2002-2003 Heisey Wind Ensemble concert season includes concerts on March 1 and April 12, 2003. The featured soloist on April 12 will be clarinet virtuoso Eddie Daniels. Daniels is a Vail Visiting Artist in Residence at Denison University.

The Heisey Wind Ensemble was formed in February of 1985 by J M Day and Don Workman to provide an outlet for skilled musicians interested in playing traditional concert band literature. The group is sponsored in part by the Denison University Music Department. The Heisey Wind Ensemble and Denison have been working together since 1986 to provide Denison students with a quality concert band with which to perform and to provide the Central Ohio area with a concert band to enjoy. In 2001 the Heisey Wind Ensemble was selected (via audition) as one of three adult groups from across the state of Ohio to perform at the Ohio Music Education Association's annual conference. The ensemble's performance drew critical acclaim as one of the highlights of the conference.

Dale T. Knobel has served as the 19th president of Denison University since 1998. Before coming to Denison, he had been provost, dean of the faculty, and professor of history for two years at Southwestern University, a private, selective liberal arts college of 1,200 students in Georgetown, Texas. Dr. Knobel narrated "Peter and the Wolf" with the Heisey Wind Ensemble in December 1998.

Susan Powell joined the Ohio State University School of Music faculty in fall 2000. Prior to her appointment at Ohio State, Powell served on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh for the '99-'00 school year. She received a bachelor of music degree from the Eastman School of Music, where she was awarded a Performer's Certificate, and a master's in music from Northwestern University. She is currently a doctoral candidate in musical arts at Northwestern University. She also is an active composer of percussion music and has works published by Innovative Percussion.

Dr. Russel Mikkelson is director of university bands and associate professor of conducting at Ohio State University. He conducts the OSU Wind Symphony and Chamber Winds, oversees the graduate wind conducting program, and guides all aspects of the University's band program. He has received praise from composers John Corigliano, David Maslanka, Leslie Bassett and Krzyzstof Penderecki for his interpretation of their works. Prior to his appointment at Ohio State University, Mikkelson was director of bands and assistant professor of music at the State University of New York at Fredonia. Dr. Mikkelson served for six years as director of bands at Stevens Point Area Senior High (Wis.) where his groups performed regularly at state, regional, and national conventions. Mikkelson serves as president of the Big Ten Band Directors Association and is active nationally and internationally as a guest conductor and clinician.

For more information about the Heisey Wind Ensemble, please contact Doug Moran at 740-344-8333 or (morand@denison.edu).

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

For press inquiries:

Name

Barbara Stambaugh

Position Title

Director, Media Relations

Primary Email

stambaughb@denison.edu

Business Phone

(740) 587-8575