Common threads

McAfee Center, 20300 Herriman Ave, Saratoga
Sunday, October 5, 2025, 3:00 PM

San José State University Wind Ensemble
San José Wind Symphony
Dr. David Vickerman, music and artistic director

At its core, music is about connection—between composer and performer, performer and listener, and among the works themselves. Common Threads explores these points of connection in a joint performance by the San José State University Wind Ensemble and the San José Wind Symphony, led by conductor Dr. David Vickerman. The program spans more than a century of repertoire, tracing shared ideas and contrasting voices that continue to shape the wind band tradition.

The San José State University Wind Ensemble opens with Ron Nelson’s Resonances I, a bold and colorful work that showcases the palette of the modern wind ensemble. Leonard Bernstein’s spirited Slava! adds humor and exuberance, while Lili Boulanger’s D’un matin de printemps offers a glimpse of her luminous style in one of her final works. Jake Runestad’s Let My Love Be Heard provides a moment of reflection and hope, and Gustav Holst’s First Suite in E-flat closes the set as a landmark piece that helped define the concert band as we know it today.

The San José Wind Symphony continues the afternoon with Gordon Jacob’s An Original Suite, another early cornerstone of the repertoire, before turning to Frank Ticheli’s Rest, a contemporary work of serene beauty. Michael Gandolfi’s Vientos y Tangos infuses the program with rhythm and motion, and Paul Hindemith’s March from Symphonic Metamorphosis delivers a brilliant and energetic finale.

By placing these works side by side, Common Threads highlights how composers across eras and styles engage with the same questions of expression, energy, and community – reminding us that music, no matter when it was written, speaks in ways that continue to resonate today.

On the Program:
San José State University Wind Ensemble
Resonances I – Nelson
Slava! – Bernstein, arr. Grundman
D'un matin des printemps – Boulanger, arr. Branciard
Let My Love Be Heard – Runestad
First Suite in E-flat – Holst

San José Wind Symphony
An Original Suite – Jacob, arr. Heidenreich
Rest – Ticheli
Vientos y Tangos – Gandolfi
“March” from Symphonic Metamorphosis – Hindemith, arr. Wilson

Echoes of Christmas Past

McAfee Center, 20300 Herriman Ave, Saratoga
Sunday, December 7, 2025, 3:00 PM
Dr. David Vickerman, music and artistic director

On the Program*
A Christmas Festival – Anderson
Greensleeves – arr. Reed
Away in the Manger – Murray, arr. Giroux
Dies Natalis – Hanson
A Hanukkah Festival – arr. Bernotas
O Magnum Mysterium – Lauridsen, arr. Reynolds
Stille Nacht – Gruber, arr. Chip Davis and Robert Longfield
The Night Before Christmas – Bass
Sleigh Ride – Anderson
Christmas Sing-Along – arr. Ployhar

Divine Inspiration

McAfee Center, 20300 Herriman Ave, Saratoga
Sunday, March 15, 2026, 3:00 PM
Dr. David Vickerman, music and artistic director

On the Program*
Symphony No. 1, "Jeremiah": II. Profanation – Bernstein, arr. Bencriscutto
Hymn to St. Teresa – Hagen
Kaddish – McBeth
American Hymnsong Suite – Milburn
“Siegfried's Death Funeral March” from Gotterdammerung – Wagner, arr. Safranek
Come, Sweet Death – Bach, arr. Reed
Gloriosa – Ito

Illumination - Recording Preview

Sunday, May 10, 2026, 3:00 PM
Hammer Theater, 101 Paseo de San Antonio, San José
Dr. David Vickerman, music and artistic director

On the Program*
Illumination – Maslanka
Elegy – Chance
Summerland – Still, arr. Teter
Deciduous – Cuong
Tuttarana – Esmail
Escaramuza – Frank, arr. Vickerman (WORLD PREMIERE)
Aurora Awakes – Mackey

*All programs are subject to change without notice.