Steven Capaldo, Conductor
Jamie Davis, MMus Student Conductor
Xavier Marican, Alto Saxophone (2023 UVic Concerto Competition winner)
Faustino Diaz, Trombone
Jorge Arturo Castillo García, guest composer

The UVic Wind Symphony presents an exciting and vibrant finale to the 2023/24 concert season with Tapestry. Exploring music from different cultures, styles, genres, and time periods, the program creates a rich and diverse tapestry of people, sounds, and colours. Along with composers Cait Nishimura (Origin), Eric Whitacre (October), James David (Urban LIght), and Norman Dello Joio (Satiric Dances), we feature UVic Concerto Competition Winner Xavier Marican (alto saxophone) performing the Concerto Capriccio on Themes of Paganini, and as a special finale, acclaimed international trombone virtuoso Faustino Diaz will perform as a guest soloist with the Wind Symphony in a commissioned work by Jorge Arturo Castillo García written for the concert. This is not to be missed!

VIEW THE PROGRAM

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Third year saxophone student Xavier Marican is from Kamloops, BC and has been playing the saxophone for nearly a decade. From 2018-20, he studied with the Greater Vancouver Youth Music Academy, where he traveled over 700 kilometres round trip from Kamloops to Vancouver every weekend to play with their Symphonic Wind Ensemble. Xavier also received lessons from Nina Falcos, the artistic director of the GVYMA. In describing her lessons with Xavier, she said “It is our dream as instructors to come across students like Xavier Marican. Not only are they the students who remind us of the joy of music, but they also take music to a true spiritual level.” Xavier currently studies with Wendell Clanton at the UVic School of Music. Xavier has performed with ensembles including the National Youth Band of Canada, Denis Wick Canadian Wind Orchestra, and the UVic Purple Quartet, receiving awards including the Rico by D’Addario Golden Reed Award and the Long & McQuade Outstanding Musicianship Award. Xavier has been a finalist in competitions including the Music International Grand Prix and North American Virtuoso International Competition. Marican is motivated by a desire to give performances that impress and inspire others. He aims to “bring to life excellent performances of great music of the classical saxophone and inspire others to do the same.”

Mexican trombonist, tubist, trumpeter and arranger, Faustino Diaz, hails from a musical dynasty stretching back over 100 years in the heart of Mexico. His musical studies began with his father, Rodolfo Diaz, before continuing to Mexico’s National Conservatory where he studied with Benjamin Alarcon. During his time at the conservatory, he was a three-time winner of the winds division of the school’s concerto competition. His principal teachers also include Jorgen van Rijen in the Roterdam Conservatorium, in the Netherlands and Jacques Mauger in Lausanne Conservatoy, Switzerland. Faustino Diaz is the first trombonist from Latin America to win an international trombone competition (Jeju, South Korea 2013), and has additionally taken third place (Budapest, Hungary 2016) and was selected as a finalist (Porcia, Italy 2011) in two others. He has enjoyed positions with top-tier orchestras both in his home country and abroad, including the Zurich Opernhaus, Mexico City Philharmonic, UNAM Philharmonic, and the National Symphony Orchestra (Mexico). Diaz is one of the foremost soloists of brass instruments in Latin America, Asia anda Europe and is a champion of new Latin American music. Diaz currently performs as the Principal Trombone of the Daegu Symphony Orchestra in Daegu, South Korea. He is a proud Yamaha Performing Artist and exclusively plays Yamaha instruments and K&G Mouthpieces.

TICKETS
Regular $28 / Seniors $22 / Students & UVic Alumni $15

Advance tickets available through the UVic Ticket Centre (online, in-person and by phone). 
Tickets also available at the door.
1 complimentary ticket available for UVic students with a valid ONECard.
$8 tickets available for elementary, middle and high school groups (10 or more, including guardians/chaperones). Contact the UVic ticket centre by phone for group bookings (250-721-8480).

This concert will be available as a live stream.