The Wind Ensemble, the highest level instrumental group in the DeMatha music program, performed side-by-side with Maryland Winds on Tuesday at Bowie State University. This was a chance for DeMatha students to play alongside professional musicians
Maryland Winds is a professional concert band based out of Howard County with musicians from military bands and symphony orchestras, plus some freelancers.
Sophomore Landon Pearson, a trombone player, said, “It was amazing to play with the pros and see how they do things before a performance.”
The Director and Conductor, Colonel Timothy J. Holtan, retired in 2017 as the senior military musician in the Department of Defense. His final mission in the military was as the 10th Leader and Commander of The United States Army Band, Pershing’s Own.
The Executive Director, Sgt. Maj. Julian Ayers, was a 26-year military musician in the same Army Band and was the fifth command sergeant major of Pershing’s Own. He is a DeMatha Graduate of the Class of 1992 and is the father of another DeMatha grad, Joel ’23, and a current sophomore Jason Ayers who plays french horn in the Wind Ensemble.
This concert was the second of the fall season for the Wind Ensemble after October’s Kaleidoscope. It serves as an informal kickoff of the music program’s busiest time of year, with the fall concert series, which runs from December 3 through December 16 before their final performance of the semester during our St. John de Matha Day Mass on December 17.
