This article appeared in The Sunday Journal on January 9, 2005

Striving to make Gabriel jealous

Local musicians form wind ensemble

The new 40-person River Valley Wind Ensemble will give its premiere concert at 7 p.m. Thursday at Asbury United Methodist Church.

Appropriately, the music will all be based in hymns, although sometimes not recognizably so, said Rod Williams, music teacher at Bradley West School.

Williams said he, wife Sue and Manteno music teacher Dave Conrad came up with the idea, inspired in part by the North Shore Concert Band that used to perform at Northwestern University.

About half of the new ensemble are members of the Kankakee Municipal Band. For them, the RVWE will be an outlet for their creativity between September and May, when they aren’t playing at Bird Park each Thursday night.

Rod Williams said that in planning the group, he and Conrad agreed "wouldn’t it be great" if there was an opportunity for us to "keep up our chops" during the winter and spring.

The members, who come from as far away as Joiet, Wilmington, and Peotone, have been "handpicked." Rod Williams said that he and the other co-founders invited professional-level players so that the group could tackle "challenging literature.

"We’ve set the bar high.

"We’ve decided to keep the (membership) small and on an invitation basis," he said. Similar groups can have up to 80-100 members.

While there is one high school student and a few college students, almost all the members are adults.

The RVWE is just big enough that each musician – horn, woodwind or percussion player – will have his own part.

Rod Williams contrasted the ensemble not only with a municipal band, but also with a symphony orchestra, where two-thirds of the performers bow or pluck stringed instruments.

Asbury agreed to host the first concert as part of its Fine Arts Council Series.

Rod Williams said that the group told the church that it "would love to be able to perform in the ... sanctuary," which was redone about a year ago. He said that the space has rounded walls, angles and a balcony that all make music sound great.

The altar area is designed to be opened up for musical performances, so an audience can use all the normal pews