Students from Southeastern’s and St. Amant High School’s Wind Symphony had the privilege to perform a modern composition while being able to work with guest composer, Dr. David Maslanka. The Massachusetts native has over 130 compositions to his name, and has been a freelance composer since 1990.
They performed last Thursday, showcasing the “Give Us This Day” concert in the Columbia Theatre. Students participating in the band program were eager to work with Maslanka.
Manslaka is well known and respected amongst members of the wind symphony., “He is probably one of the best modern composers today,” said Andrew Dilmore, a freshman industrial technology major. “Literally if you’ve heard of [modern classical] music you’ve probably heard his name before.”
Angelisa Allen, a senior music education major, thinks Maslanka is one of the best college band composers around.

“First and foremost, Maslanka is one of the best composers right now for classical music in the medium of the college band,” Allen said. “His use of color, tone and instrumentation is beautiful and all of that brings out a beautiful whole. It makes for great music and great repertoire for the college university bands.”

St. Amant’s Wind Symphony led the event with “Little Fugue in G Minor,” a piece composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. Soon after, Southeastern’s Wind Symphony followed with works by Charles Ives and James B. Sinclair. Senior music education major Jonathan Lyons then performed a solo of “Concerto for alto saxophone,” composed by Maslanka. The finale brought both schools, St. Amant High School Wind Symphony and Southeastern’s Wind Symphony, together to perform the final piece, “Give us this day: Short Symphony for Wind Ensemble.” In between switching bands Conductor of Wind Symphony, Dr. Glen J. Hemberger, was taken by surprise during the show by being presented with a national honor. He received a certificate of excellence from the National Band Association. Hemberger expressed gratitude, as he had no idea he was going to be presented with such an honor.
“The National Band Association is a real prestigious organization and to get a certificate of excellence from them is wonderful,” said Hemberger. “I was blown away, and to have David Maslaka here at the same time was fantastic.”
According to Maslanka, Hemberger’s award was a nice touch to the already lovely evening and the timing was perfect.
“He’s at that point in his life where he has accumulated his craft and ability to do this kind of work, and also have the respect of his peers,” Maslanka said. “So this is a beautiful award to give him at this time.”
In the end, both the students of the two wind symphonies, as well as the composer and conductors, seemed to be in agreement that the whole production went incredibly well.
Maslanka thought the two wind symphonies sounded well together and played in synchrony despite their large sizes.
“To bring those two exceptionally large groups together [St.Amant and Southeastern] worked exceptionally well,” Maslanka said. “They’re all very good players and they came together here very easily.”
Students who had the chance to perform with the guest composer enjoyed being in his company. Allen said she would love to work with him again one day.
“I would definitely work with him again [Dr.Maslanka] if at all possible,” said Allen. He’s a very brilliant composer. He’s a very humble person and his music is a direct reflection of who he is.”
The night ended on a high note for everyone involved in the production. It was a night of grand collaboration, riveting classical pieces and great achievement.
“It was a magical night for all of us,” said Hemberger. “The students played at an incredibly high level. The composer was here and the composer was pleased with how we played his music, so you can’t ask for much more than that.”