Installation performances
- Simon Estes
- Iowa State Singers
- ISU Wind Ensemble
A personalized musical composition will debut at the Sept. 21 presidential installation of Wendy Wintersteen. Michael Golemo, professor of music and director of bands, composed "To Serve" to honor the 16th president in Iowa State's 160-year history.
Golemo said the composition intertwines Wintersteen's diverse musical taste -- from classic works by composer Aaron Copland to a new-age style -- with a "bold, optimistic and colorful" theme. Its title was inspired by, of all things, a license plate.
"I learned that Dr. Wintersteen's personalized license plate reads, 'To Serve,' and decided this would be an excellent title for this composition in her honor," Golemo said.
Golemo, who also composed "A Cyclone Fanfare" for Steven Leath's 2012 installation, has hundreds of instrumental arrangements and compositions to his credit. He said "To Serve" opens with a traditional fanfare, then adds a new-age theme "layered on top" with individual instrumentation.
"There are a lot of opportunities for people to have their own voices, with one overriding theme to bring it all together," he said.
The composition will be performed by the ISU Wind Ensemble -- a 64-member concert band of wind, brass and percussion student musicians under Golemo's direction. The four-minute fanfare precedes the ensemble's performance of "Toreador Song" with bass-baritone and artist-in-residence Simon Estes.
