Metropolitan Wind Symphony to Open 56th Season With New Music Director Gabe Southard

Metropolitan Wind Symphony will open its 56th season this fall with the debut performance of its new Music Director Dr. Robert “Gabe” Southard. Southard leads the 60+ member ensemble in concert on Sunday, November 1, at 3 pm, in a performance fittingly titled “There's a First Time for Everything,” at the Scottish Rite Museum, 33 Marrett Road, Lexington. A free pre-concert lecture begins at 2:30 pm.

Southard was selected as MetWinds' new music director after a season-long search in which six finalists each guest conducted the ensemble in concert. He joined the faculty of Gordon College in 2022 as Associate Teaching Professor of Music, where he conducts the Gordon Symphony Orchestra and Symphonic Band. He previously served as Associate Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Hope College in Michigan, leading the Winds and Brass area and the Instrumental Music Education area, and earlier held posts as Wind Symphony conductor and flute instructor at the University of Michigan-Flint.

Southard earned his doctorate in Musical Arts in Conducting from Michigan State University, along with master's and bachelor's degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Ithaca College. An active orchestrator, his projects include a wind ensemble arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov's Symphony No. 2, “Antar.” As a flutist, he has performed as principal flute of the Holland Symphony Orchestra and with several other orchestras, and in 2020 was named a Pearl Flute Artist.

Southard's first program with MetWinds universally embraces the theme of beginnings. “There's a First Time for Everything” celebrates the debut works of some of the concert band repertoire's most significant voices, including John Mackey, Frank Ticheli, and Dana Wilson, each represented by the very first piece they wrote or arranged for band. Another work reaches back to Gustav Holst's “First Suite in E flat,” the piece widely credited with establishing the wind band as a serious concert ensemble alongside the orchestra.

The full program includes Adam Gorb's “Awayday”; Holst's “First Suite in E flat for Military Band” (edited by Colin Matthews); John Mackey's “Strange Humors”; Dana Wilson's “Piece of Mind”; John Stevens' “Benediction”; and Frank Ticheli's “Postcard.”

Single tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors, $5 for students, and free for children under age 5, available on Eventbrite.

MetWinds participates in the Card to Culture Program. EBT, WIC and Health Connector cardholders who show their EBT, WIC or Health Connector card at the door pay only $2 per adult or $1 per child (age 5+). Children under age 5 are free. There is no admission limit per cardholder. Free parking is available on site, and the Scottish Rite Museum is barrier-free for easy access.