The Winds of the Mountain Empire celebrated their twentieth anniversary with their twenty-sixth concert on July 19, 2026. This year musicians from twelve states congregated in Wise, Virginia, for the professional musicians’ honor-band equivalent, under the direction of Dr. Donald Sorah, Professor of Music, University of Virginia, Wise.
As is common among bands, the concert began with a U.S. band staple, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” arranged by John Williams. William’s arrangement gave new life to old music and set the tone for the rest of the concert.
A world premiere, “Regalia: A Ceremonial Overture” by Donald Sorah was next. While this heraldic piece could fit in patriotic concerts, Sorah musically describes two ceremonial symbols of academic institutions. It describes the strength and dignity of the mace carried during commencement processionals, and the symbolic identity and history of the gonfalon (ceremonial banner), telling the people’s shared story. One could easily imagine a graduation procession during this evocative musical celebration; and the music would be an excellent alternative to Sir Edward Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance.” Sorah’s dedicating it to past and present WME musicians is a fitting tribute.
“March from ‘Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria Von Weber,’ by the notoriously challenging composer Paul Hindemith. This author heard zero evidence of Hindemith’s challenges, and all of the drama and beauty. Bravo, WME!
The second world premiere on the program was by student composer, Virginia native Joshua Cunningham. “Above the Mountains” is a contemporary work for wind band inspired by the beauty and spirit of the Appalachian Mountains of Southwest Virginia. To this composer, the piece feels reminiscent of Pachelbel’s Cannon in D. It employs a synonymous but definitely not Pachelbel bass line and somewhat similar layered structure. It reflects the majesty of mountain landscapes while celebrating the people, traditions, and resilience that define the Appalachian region. If all music students at UVA Wise reach Cunningham’s level, future students need have no qualms about deciding to study there.
“Meridian” by Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo was the next unusual programming choice. Gjeilo is known for lyrically expressive choral music; some of this continued into the wind band selection. Rhythmic drive and ostinato were consistently featured, and the concerto-like piano part was brilliantly performed by Dr. Peter Ryan, Associate Professor of music at UVA Wise. The ostinato could easily have devolved into repetitive boredom, but WME’s excellent performance avoided that outcome, and the musica strengthened into an exciting conclusion.
The concert’s finale was Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana: not the two-and-a-half-hour vocal soloists, chorus, and symphony orchestra behemoth, but a masterfully condensed wind band thirteen-movement version, arranged by John Krance. The brass, woodwind, and percussion somehow managed to capture the dramatic high points, from the opening “O Fortuna” to the final “Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi: Fortune: Empress of the World.”
Wise, Virginia, may seem like “the middle of nowhere” in the mountainous wilds of south-western Virginia, but attending [free] concerts by Winds of the Mountain Empire is certainly worth the trip.