The U of A Bands will hold two concerts next week to wrap up the spring 2025 semester. Featured in the last cycle of concerts are tubist Jim Self, as well as several performances that ackowledge university professor Chalon Ragsdale, who will retire at the end of the semester after a 50-year tenure as professor in the Department of Music.

The Symphonic Band will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, April 21. The band, under the direction of assistant director of bands Christopher Agwu, will include the following selections.

• Catalyst (2024) — Adrian B. Sims (b. 2000)
• Prelude in the Dorian Mode (1550/1937-1941/1989) — Antonio de Cabezón (1510-1566), trans. Grainger
• With Heart and Voice (2001) — David Gillingham (b. 1947)
• Does It Stretch Out Its Roots... (2022) — Danielle Fisher (b.1986) and Tyler Austin (b. 1990)
• Polka and Fugue from "Schwanda, the Bagpiper" (1928/1961) — Jaromir Weinberger (1896-1967), trans. Bainum
  • Graduate Conductor, Andrew Cox

On Tuesday, April 22, at 7 p.m., the Wind Ensemble and Wind Symphony will hold a joint concert. The Wind Symphony will begin the evening and will feature Self on tuba. A Los Angeles-based freelance musician, since 1974, Self has worked for all the major Hollywood studios performing for over 1,500 motion pictures and hundreds of television shows and records. His solos in major films include John William's scores to Jurassic Park, Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Hook, and he was the "Voice of the Mothership" from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Also included in the program is a special performance by Ragsdale of his arrangement of Percy Grainger's Molly on the Shore, featuring four marimbas with a concert band. Ragsdale will be joined by She-e Wu, associate professor of percussion at Northwestern University, and his children, Lynn Francis and Aaron Ragsdale, associate professor of percussion at South Dakota State University.

• Mother of a Revolution! (2019) - Omar Thomas (b. 1984)
  • Cy Curtis, Graduate Conductor
• "Cavatina": Theme from The Deer Hunter (1970) - Stanley Myers (1930-1993)
  • Jim Self, Tuba
• Lacuna (2023) - Henry Dorn (b. 1988)
• Harvest Hymn (1932) - Percy Aldrigde Grainger (1882-1961), trans. Joseph Kreines
• Molly on the Shore (1920) - Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882-1961), arr. Chalon Ragsdale
  • Chalon Ragsdale, Lynn Francis, Aaron Ragsdale and She-e Wu, Marimba

The Wind Ensemble is under the direction of Christopher Knighten, director of bands, with assistance from Jones and graduate student Andrew Cox. Self's 2010 piece, Barnstorming, will begin the Wind Ensemble's program, and Aaron Ragsdale will return to the stage to perform Larry MacTaggart's concerto for marimba and Wind Ensemble. MacTaggart is a former student of Ragsdale, graduating from the U of A in 1981 with a Bachelor of Music Education degree before a career as the staff arranger of the United States Air Force Band.

• Barnstorming (2010) - James Self (b. 1943)
  • Chase Jones, Guest Conductor
• And the swallow  (2022) - Caroline Shaw (b. 1982), arr. Fisher
  • Andrew Cox, Graduate Conductor
• Three Moods - Concerto for Marimba and Wind Ensemble (2025), Larry MacTaggart (b. 1958)
  • Aaron Ragsdale, Guest Soloist, Marimba

There will be a post-concert reception in the lobby of the Faulkner Performing Arts Center immediately following the Wind Ensemble's performance. All friends, family, students and former students of Ragsdale are invited to attend.

Both concerts are free and open to the public and will be held in the Faulkner Performing Arts Center on the campus of the U of A.