Wind Ensemble’s “Voyages” finale to feature guest conductor, new works

  College of Arts & Sciences   Arts+Culture  

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The La Sierra University Wind Ensemble will feature guest conductor Travis J. Cross for its final concert of the season, in a performance of the conductor’s own composition as well as new works by La Sierra musicians.

Giovanni Santos, La Sierra University's director of wind and percussion studies, leads the university's Wind Ensemble which will perform one of his compositions. (Photo: Natan Vigna)
Giovanni Santos, La Sierra University's director of wind and percussion studies, leads the university's Wind Ensemble which will perform one of his compositions. (Photo: Natan Vigna)
Dr. Travis J. Cross, an associate music professor and Wind Ensemble director at the Herb Alpert School of Music at the University of California, Los Angeles, will guest conduct La Sierra University’s Wind Ensemble on June 4 as it plays his work, “Let the Amen Sound.”
Dr. Travis J. Cross, an associate music professor and Wind Ensemble director at the Herb Alpert School of Music at the University of California, Los Angeles, will guest conduct La Sierra University’s Wind Ensemble on June 4 as it plays his work, “Let the Amen Sound.”

On Sun., June 4, Cross, an associate music professor and Wind Ensemble director at the Herb Alpert School of Music at the University of California, Los Angeles, will lead La Sierra University’s Wind Ensemble as it plays his work, “Let the Amen Sound.” He will also lead a performance of Percy Grainger’s “Molly on the Shore.” 

The Wind Ensemble concert, themed “Voyages,” will also premiere original works by La Sierra’s Director of Wind and Percussion Studies Giovanni Santos and La Sierra student musicians Michael Patterson, assistant conductor, and tenor Anthony Leon. The “Voyages” concert will serve as a preview of repertoire that will be performed during the Wind Ensemble’s European tour in June through the Czech Republic, Austria, the Republic of San Marino, and Italy. The tour will include invitational performances at two prestigious music festivals.

Santos met Cross during Santos’ tenure at Loma Linda Academy as band department and Wind Symphony director. “He guest-conducted one of our concerts and we’ve been friends ever since,” Santos said.

Santos is planning additional guest musicians for the upcoming school year including Kevin Sedatole from Michigan State University as clinician for La Sierra’s high school wind band invitational, and legendary conducting professor Allan McMurray from the University of Colorado as guest for the music department’s annual wind conducting workshop.

“My teaching philosophy is based around experiences,” said Santos. “Students will remember guest conductors, composers, and experiences that are out of the ordinary.”

Next school year, the La Sierra University Wind Ensemble will perform for a festival in New York City in renowned Carnegie Hall. “Our Wind Ensemble is going above and beyond, working hard to share our love for music,” Santos said. “I’m quite humbled to work with such fine and talented young musicians. We’re all very proud of them.”

Santos, a La Sierra University alum, received his master’s degree from the University of Southern California in 2007 where he was also a scholarship trumpet student. For seven years, Santos led the band department at Loma Linda Academy and conducted the LLA Wind Symphony in performances across the United States and Europe. He has directed concerts in venues such as the Notre Dame Cathedral of Chartres and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

Cross previously conducted the wind ensemble at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, or Virginia Tech, and led his students in performances at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. and at New York City’s Carnegie Hall. His roster of awards and accomplishments includes being named a Jacob K. Javits Fellow buy the U.S. Department of Education, and receiving the Distinguished Young Band Director Award from the American School Band Directors Association of Minnesota. He also served two terms as national vice president for professional relations with Kappa Kappa Psi, a national honorary band fraternity.

Cross has more than 20 original compositions and arrangements published by Boosey & Hawkes, Daehn Publications, and Theodore Music. He has appeared as a guest conductor, composer and clinician in various states and countries including Canada, China, Korea, and Thailand, and has led honor bands and other ensembles in Arizona, California, Colorado, Indiana, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Virginia, and Singapore. 

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