Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony provides a haven for young wind instrumentalists

This weekend’s winter concert celebrates Russian Christmas music and features a world premiere.

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While it might be obvious from a meteorological standpoint, there is something about Russian culture that’s inextricably linked with the moods and celebrations of winter. From nutcrackers to nesting dolls, the Russian folk realm is awash in tales, symbols and sounds known the world over for their warm, festive cheer in the face of frigid solstices. For the Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony and its director, Dr. Scott A. Stewart, those frosty celebrations are a wonderful conceptual backdrop for Russian Christmas Music, the ensemble’s upcoming winter concert at Lassiter Concert Hall at 4 p.m. on Sunday, December 7.

The AYWS is an honor ensemble with members drawn from the upper ranks of high school bands. Stewart is adamant that the high school band connection be preserved. “These are kids in their high school programs,” he affirms. “We don’t allow them to not be in their high school programs. We consider ourselves in partnership with the public and private schools.” The result, as Stewart sees it, is a symbiotic relationship in which young players take the enthusiasm and energy of AYWS back to their school programs. 

With around 100 students from some 60 schools in the metro Atlanta area (and some further out than that), the ensemble has become an elite haven for young wind instrumentalists — and a popular one. “It’s one of the nation’s top performing youth music ensembles,” Stewart beams. “It’s known for championing new music. We do a lot of commissioning, and we do a lot of world premieres in addition to standard wind band repertoire and more contemporary literature.”

“The group started in 1988, kind of as an outreach component at Emory University,” explains Stewart, who joined as conductor in 1999. When Stewart eventually moved on from Emory, he was given the University’s blessing to take the AYWS with him. The organization was soon incorporated as a nonprofit and has built up a reputation for its rigorous and prolific performance schedule. Live shows have included three appearances at Carnegie Hall as well as performances at New World Center, Severance Music Center and the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Though Alfred Reed’s titular Russian Christmas Music will form the backbone of the December 7 concert, commissions will feature prominently. The performance will see the world premiere of Bruce Broughton’s five-movement suite Suspect Folktunes, a work originally scored for trumpet and piano but adapted (or “windestrated,” as Stewart puts it) for AYWS after Broughton decided the ensemble was ideal for the premiere. 

“He’s a huge composer in film and television music,” enthuses Stewart. “But he’s had a remarkable concert career at the same time.” Now in his 70s, Broughton has turned his focus to that concert career, with results that Stewart describes as “explosive.” 

Having known Stewart for two decades and maintaining a love of young musicians, Broughton reached out to have the AYWS premiere the new work. “It’s a charming, really entertaining piece,” says Stewart. “You can tell that Bruce used to write for cartoons and animation. It’s a folk song suite of folk songs that aren’t actual folk songs!”

December 7 will also feature a performance by Matthew Vaughn, co-principal trombonist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, who will join the ensemble for Jeff Tyzik’s Concerto for Trombone and Wind Ensemble. “One of the missions of the organization is to surround the students with some of the world’s greatest musicians,” says Stewart. “Whether they are composers, performers or scholars, we want them to be around the very best. Matt is one of the premier trombone players in the world.”

If that weren’t enough, the concert will also feature Michael Markowski’s All My Heart, a piece co-commissioned by the AYWS. It’s a jam-packed program that reflects the AYWS’ undeniably high standards, but Stewart is, above all, conscious of maintaining a nurturing environment for young musicians. 

“These are a lot of the high flyers in the nation,” explains Stewart, pointing out that many AYWS players attend the prestigious music camps at Tanglewood and Interlochen. “But they are high schoolers. There’s kind of a raw power/passion element that has to be tamed,” he chuckles.

To that end, Stewart emphasizes a warm, noncompetitive and mutually respectful environment. “They love music making, and they love each other. It’s overflowing with positive energy.”

That positive energy promises to keep the Lassiter Concert Hall warm for at least one night as Atlanta’s weather turns chilly.

Where & when

Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony’s Russian Christmas Music takes place at Lassiter Concert Hall at 4 p.m. on Sunday, December 7.

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Jordan Owen began writing about music professionally at the age of 16 in Oxford, Mississippi. A 2006 graduate of the Berklee College of Music, he is a professional guitarist, bandleader and composer. He is currently the lead guitarist for the jazz group Other Strangers, the power metal band Axis of Empires and the melodic death/thrash metal band Century Spawn.