Northwinds Symphonic Band
Northwinds 10th Anniversary Commission
On behalf of our board of directors I am pleased and proud to announce that we have commissioned Raymond Osnato to compose a work in celebration of
our 10th season, which will begin in September 2016. We have been most fortunate to perform two other works written by Ray and are very excited at the prospect of having a work composed specifically for our band. Northwinds has had a long and wonderful association with Ray since our inception in 2007 and we look forward to this thrilling opportunity. The premiere of this celebratory work will be in April 2017.
Helen Bauer
Director, Conductor
Northwinds Symphonic Band
About Raymond Osnato
Long Island composer, pianist and arranger Raymond Osnato studied piano with Robert Goldsand, Gunnar Johansen and Raymond Lewenthal and conducting with Joseph Rosenstock. He went on to conduct opera and orchestral concerts in Houston, Minneapolis, St. Louis, and served as Principal Guest Conductor for the CBC Symphony Orchestra, Winnipeg. Osnato studied composition at C.W.Post/Long Island University with Raoul Pleskow and Howard Rovics. In recent years he has turned his attentions almost exclusively to writing for symphonic wind ensemble and has had his music performed in Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, the Philippines and the United States. In August, 2014 Osnato’s large-scale symphonic poem for band, “Sacrificial Rite of the Solstice” was named one of the best new compositions heard at the prestigious International Festival of Wind Orchestras. He has written a three-movement symphony for wind ensemble based on the life of Tutankhamun along with concert overtures, miscellaneous pieces and transcriptions. Of his 2011 work, “Night of the Dark Souls,” Wall Street Journal music critic Will Friedwald wrote, “This is one of the most wildly imaginative pieces of music I’ve ever heard for wind ensemble, one which vividly conveys its supernatural subject matter in a way that is truly terrifying.” In 2012 Northwinds Symphonic Band gave the first performance of his “Journeys on the Amazon” and in 2014 the ensemble performed his three-movement symphonic suite, “Echoes of Antiquity.” “I am thrilled to have been asked to compose the work for Northwinds’ celebratory tenth anniversary season,” says Osnato. “Among the commissions I’ve received this is very special to me as it affords me the opportunity to write something specifically for my friends and colleagues in the band.”