Buttermilk Festival – WI Symphonic Winds

The Wisconsin Symphonic Winds will make their second Buttermilk Festival appearance on Wednesday, July 2. The 7:15 p.m. performance will feature music by American composers and will take place in the Wifler Performance Center at Buttermilk Creek Park.  The event will be moved to the County Fairgrounds in the event of bad weather.

The Wisconsin Symphonic Winds is a regional, professional-level wind ensemble that has performed summer concerts since its inaugural season in 2004. In addition to its regular summer performances, the group was featured in the prestigious Green Lake Festival of Music for two consecutive years and has performed multiple times at conferences of the Wisconsin Music Education Association and the Wisconsin Concert Band Association. In 2023 the Wisconsin Symphonic Winds was recognized by the American Prize (national arts award) with the third place award in Community Band/Wind Ensemble Performance.

Organized and co-founded by Dr. Rob McWilliams, former Director of Bands at UW-Oshkosh, and Rand Skelton, a retired music educator, the group is currently under the leadership of Dr. Devin Otto, Director of Bands and Instructor of Tuba/Euphonium at UW-Oshkosh. Dr. Otto holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Wind Conducting and Literature degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He also holds degrees in music education from the University of Idaho and Eastern Washington University. As a low brass player, Dr. Otto’s performance experience includes the Oshkosh Symphony Orchestra, Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra, Spokane Symphony Orchestra, Idaho/Washington Symphony, Minot Symphony Orchestra, Mid-Columbia Symphony Orchestra, International Brass Quintet, and Bob Curnow Big Band.

The concert program will feature music by American composers, including Outdoor Overture by Aaron Copland, Folk Suite by William Grant Still, Country Band March by Charles Ives, a transcription of a piano vesper by Amy Beach (The Old Chapel by the Moonlight), and Three Dances from “On the Town” by Leonard Bernstein. Rounding out the concert fare will be three marches: Castles in Europe by James Reese Europe, Virgin Islands March by Alton Adams, and our national march, Stars and Stripes Forever, by John Philip Sousa

 The concert is free; a free-will offering will be received. A food concession, serving sandwiches, desserts and beverages, will be available beginning at 6:00 p.m. Next up on the summer concert schedule is the Symphonic Band’s traditional 4th of July Americana Concert at 7:30 p.m. at Lakeside Park, followed by the Symphonic Band at Buttermilk Creek Park on July 9 with music from “The Final Frontier, a trip through outer space.”