On Saturday, March 1, the Superior Wind Symphony played to a crowd at the Rozsa Theatre their concert titled Flights of Fantasy. Both the theme and the performance were fantastic. Fantasy in music refers to variations on Fantasia, which is a style of music with loose structure and a very improvisational feel, and pieces based on fiction.

A variety of pieces were performed, including:  “Fantasy for Piano and Wind Ensemble,” by Alec Wilder featuring a piano solo by Eponine Zenker and “Acrostic Song,” by David Del Tredici, based off of a poem by Lewis Carroll titled “Life is but a Dream” about a young girl named Alice, whom “Alice in Wonderland” was based off of. While the theatre was not packed, most likely because of the weather, the concert was a success.

Perhaps the most touching piece played was “Heart of the Morn” by H. Owen Reed, a prolific composer who passed away only a few weeks ago at the age of 104. The piece is taken from his opera “Peter Homan’s Dream” which is rather like “Oklahoma!” but for Michigan as director Mike Christianson put it. The piece begins slowly with almost haunting percussion and moves into a gorgeously full wind piece.

The Superior Wind Symphony is comprised of students at Michigan Tech who are not music majors and come to play for the sake of music. They come from many departments across campus. Their next concert is April 19, titled Musical Offerings.