Metropolitan Winds performs traditional and contemporary symphonic band music in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.
The organization was founded in 1993 by volunteer musicians with interests in performing classical transcriptions, contemporary wind band literature, and traditional military band selections. The original name was the Coppell Symphonic Band, later changed to the Coppell Civic Wind Symphony. The final name change to Metropolitan Winds was an acknowledgment of the group's populatity with musicians and fans from across the Dallas Metroplex.
Metropolitan Winds' mission is to enhance the sense of community and foster music appreciation in the area through regular performances of the world's great music, and to provide area musicians the opportunity to collaborate with friends, express themselves artistically, and pursue a favorite hobby.
Their usual repertoire leans more toward concert literature than toward light classical and pops, but they endeavor to present balanced programs that have the twofold objective to entertain and to enlighten audiences. Concert selections have run the gamut: the "serious" band literature of Schoenberg, Hindemith, Milhaud, and Husa; "big" orchestral transcriptions from Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Berlioz, Moussorgsky, Wagner, and Shostakovich; military band war-horses by Vaughan-Williams, Holst, and Grainger; American band classics by Dello Joio, Williams, Schuman, Copland, Giannini, Barber, Bennett, Grundman, and Persichetti; light classical sounds of Rossini, von Suppe, and Mozart; popular favorites from stage and screen; and patriotic songs.
A specialty of Metropolitan Winds is the performance of film scores. They have played two well-received concerts of the music of John Williams, including the symphonic suites from his best-known works. They have also featured film composer Bruce Broughton as a guest artist, conducting selections from Broughton scores.
online:
http://www.metropolitanwinds.org
email:
MetWinds@metropolitanwinds.org