Photo Gallery: Panther Band Wind Ensemble

Arabic line dancers, a secret agent, circus elephants and the four moons of Jupiter were all present at the Fourth Annual Wind Ensemble Concert on Thursday, Feb 24. The Benicia High School Wind Ensemble performed for the community and band alumni at the Hayley Horn auditorium.  The cold rainy weather outside did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the the young musicians.  They received a standing ovation from an audience who was ready for an encore. 

The forty person band is made up of members who auditioned last year to become part of the ensemble. Several of the members are celebrating their fourth year, meaning they joined as freshmen, which is no small thing indeed. Some band members even played more than one instrument at last Thursday's performance. 

The formal attire worn by the musicians did not stop the appreciative whoops and hollers from the audience at the end of each song. Amid red velvet curtains, classic lighting and spicy music, listeners were taken to all corners of the world and even on a trip out to the universe, via six musical pieces.

The songs took the audience to an Arabic wedding celebration of swirling scarves, through a dynamic night at the big top, and beyond the asteroid belt to the Galilean moons of Jupiter.

One audience member who had never seen the group play said, “I’d pay money to see this group in San Francisco. I can’t believe how clean their performance was. Just fantastic.”

For one piece, the percussion line (standing in the back row) was a group of six very busy musicians, playing eight parts. Their movements were constant, quick and sure as they jetted back and forth; the laying down of mallets, picking up of sticks and retuning of a tympani made them appear to be a perpetual motion machine.  They never missed a beat as they played every note of the song. Even a flute transformed itself to bend a note or two to mimic sounds of the Middle East. 

Another piece, Push, had the audience amped a bit, as one could easily visualize a spy movie unfolding. It had dramatic escapes, some burlesque “James Bond” flavor, suspenseful moments when surely the hero met his end, and (gasp) that final thrill as he rose for his daring train escape. 

Panther band members who were not performing, could be seen in full force as the ‘pit crew’, moving equipment and working the lighting booth. It was a true team effort led by Mr. Patrick Martin, who proudly gave some back stories about the band and mentioned further honors received by many of his musicians in some recent events. 

Martin at one point during a break between songs let slip that he thought one of the pieces was “very cool.”

It was truly a classic night where the audience landed safely from their special trip to infinity and beyond.