Wind Symphony and Arts Alive SDSU Celebrate Earth Day with Winds of Change
Musicians, recording engineers, and film and audio crew honor Earth Day with a concert drawing attention to climate change.
A collaboration of San Diego State University faculty and musicians and Arts Alive SDSU aims to tackle the issue of climate change in a two-part event taking place April 22-23.
Inspired by new instrumental music that addresses environmental issues, Arts Alive SDSU will host a free panel discussion that explores the relationship between the current science of climate change and the human experience. Panelists will include SDSU faculty Allen Gontz and Shannon Kitelinger, as well as composer Steven Bryant. The event takes place at 2 p.m. on April 22, and registration can be found here.
At noon on April 23, the SDSU Wind Symphony will perform the “Winds of Change” concert, which can be viewed via a webcast on the SDSU Music and Dance YouTube page. The concert will be recorded in Montezuma Hall in the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union and the Native and Indigenous Healing Garden.
“It seems fitting that ‘Winds of Change’ signals our highly anticipated return to campus with a powerful message about global unification,” said Eric Smigel, chair of Arts Alive SDSU and School of Music and Dance professor.
The concert directly aligns with the university’s call for a “resilient and sustainable university through innovative practices” through the strategic plan. The event also seeks to honor Earth Day, an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection.
“By situating the visceral experience of live music within geological and sociological studies, the ‘Winds of Change’ project affirms the inextricable link between our environment and the lives inhabiting it,” Smigel said. “Earth Day provides an opportunity for heightened awareness of environmental literacy and sustainability, and Arts Alive SDSU is committed to ensuring that the arts are an integral part of this global conversation.”
The event also allows students to continue collaboration with fellow musicians and perform music during the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.
“Understandably, many students have really struggled over the past year of the pandemic, but we’re incredibly proud of how the students in the Wind Symphony have persevered and given their best to this project for an opportunity to create their art this semester,” said Kitelinger.
Please visit the Arts Alive SDSU and School of Music and Dance websites for more information about programming.
