MetWinds Fall 2025 Concert: "Grainger, Gould, Giroux and Grgin"

Pre-Concert Lecture by Guest Conductor Philip Sanborn at 2:30 pm

* On the day of the concert, tickets can be purchased at the door.

About the Concert

Around the world with the letter “G”. The concert begins in Australia with Percy Grainger’s Children’s March. The subtitle Over the Hills and Far Away is an ambiguous location where the composer is destined to find his sweetheart. Grainger then takes us to the county of Lincolnshire, on the east coast of England. In Lincolnshire, in the early 1900’s, Grainger recorded folksingers and assembled his iconic collection Lincolnshire Posy. After intermission, Morton Gould reminds us that the only place a soldier wants to be is home. His American Salute is a clever twist on the American Civil War song When Johnny Comes Marching Home. Gould then transports us to the biblical town of Jericho where we can actually hear the walls “come tumblin’ down.” Next, Julie Giroux brings us to a fictional video game universe where Riften is a city in Skyrim located in the expansive world of Elder Scrolls. Finally, we return to Earth and Belgrade, Serbia where composer Ante Grgin is the principal clarinetist of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra. Be prepared for the unbelievably dynamic performance of Grgin’s Concertino for Clarinet by the phenomenal clarinetist Charlie Suriyakham! Enjoy the journey.

PROGRAM

Children’s March - Percy Grainger

Lincolnshire Posy - Percy Grainger

American Salute - Morton Gould

Jericho - Morton Gould

Riften Wed - Julie Giroux

Concertino - Ante Grgin MUC

- Charlie Suriyakham, clarinet soloist

About the Guest Conductor

Philip Sanborn is in his nineteenth season as Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Tri-County Symphonic Band. Mr. Sanborn resides in Marion, MA with his wife Karen (baritone saxophonist in the Tri-County Symphonic Band). He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor where he studied with Abe Torchinsky.

Mr. Sanborn was recently named Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Bay Colony Brass. The Bay Colony Brass is a large brass ensemble based in Newton, MA, comprised of some of the finest brass instrumentalists in the greater Boston area.

As a trombonist and euphonium player, Mr. Sanborn has performed with the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, Ocean State Lyric Opera Orchestra, Rhode Island Civic Chorale Orchestra, The Bass-Wingate’s Band (British Brass Band), Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra, Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra, New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, Tri-County Symphonic Band, Marion Concert Band, Our Lady of Light Band, and the American Band of Providence, R.I.

As a jazz trombonist, Mr. Sanborn has performed both locally and internationally including the Montreux (Switzerland) Jazz Festival. Mr. Sanborn has appeared with Cab Calloway, Julius La Rosa, Bobby Vinson, Duke Bellaire Big Band (Bovi’s, East Providence, RI), John Allmark, Tony Giorgianni’s Jazz Odyssey, White Heat Swing Orchestra, Ken Hadley Big Band, SouthCoast Jazz Orchestra, Night Life Orchestra, Mike and Joe’s Big Band, Mahrud, Jorge Ferreira, International Portuguese Music Awards, and many others.

About the Soloist

Clarinetist Charlie Suriyakham was born in Chiang Mai, Thailand. A former professional hip-hop dancer, Charlie graduated from the Prince Royal’s College and attended Payap University for one year. In 1993, he started his clarinet studies at California State University at Northridge. In 1995, he transferred to Chicago College of the Performing Arts of Roosevelt University in Chicago where he received a full scholarship to complete his B.M., M.M., and Professional Diploma in orchestral studies. In 1998, Charlie Suriyakham won the concerto competition at Roosevelt University. Charlie's clarinet teachers include Gregory Smith and Larry Combs (Chicago Symphony), Debbie and Jim Kanter (Pacific and Hollywood Bowl Symphony). Charlie was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the training orchestra of the Chicago Symphony, for two seasons. Charlie has performed with conductors and musicians including Daniel Barenboim, Yo-Yo Ma, Pierre Boulez, Sir Colin Davis, Christoph von Dohnányi, Hilary Hahn, and Leonard Slatkin. He currently holds a position with the United State Coast Guard Band, one of the premier military bands in the United States of America. In July 2009, the Herald-Times of Bloomington, Indiana lauded Charlie’s solo performance of Rossini's Introductions, Theme and Variations with the Coast Guard Band as “brilliantly nimble”. He joined the music faculty at Wesleyan University in Charlie has performed nine solo recitals in Thailand and is committed to sharing his art with his native community as well as audiences across New England and the United States.

About MetWinds

The Metropolitan Wind Symphony was Founded by Jerry Gardner in 1971, and was awarded the prestigious 2015 Sudler Silver Scroll Award for Community Concert Bands by the John Philip Sousa Foundation. Currently celebrating its 55th anniversary, MetWinds comprises over 60 talented woodwind, brass, and percussion instrumentalists who audition for membership and seating. MetWinds makes a significant contribution to the cultural life of the Greater Boston community by providing its audiences with high quality concerts and its members with opportunities for musical growth.

MetWinds presents formal performances of traditional and contemporary wind band literature, as well as more informal pops concerts throughout the metropolitan Boston area. Members rehearse Wednesdays from September through June, traveling from more than 30 communities in Massachusetts and neighboring states. All volunteers, they also pursue careers as varied as education, engineering, computer science, medicine, law, music, and public health.