South Florida Pride Wind Ensemble Presents "A Little Night Music"

The South Florida Pride Wind Ensemble will be hosting a concert, titled "A Little Night Music," at the Amaturo Theatre of the Broward Center for the Performing Arts (201 SW 5th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale). This concert will be featuring music of the night, ranging from movie soundtracks to musicals, combining the music with impressive visual elements that only the Pride Wind Ensemble can beautifully execute.

Tickets cost $25 and can be purchased from the Broward Center website at browardcenter.org. The box office phone number is (954) 462-0222 if you have any special needs or requests.

I got a chance to talk to South Florida Pride Wind Ensemble's Artistic Director, Dan Bassett, in an exclusive Hotspots interview about the upcoming concert.

How much time have you and the ensemble devoted to preparing and practicing for the concert?

The wind ensemble has been rehearsing 2 1/2 hours per week since February.

Out of all the different numbers that will be performed that night, which one is your favorite and why?

There's a lot of variety in this concert, so picking my favorite is difficult. I would have to pick "Night on Bald Mountain" by Mussorgsky. It's very powerful music and the band is really digging into it musically. It happens to be the closing number on the concert and it's one heck of a way to end the show.

How was the theme "A Little Night Music" decided? What does the theme evoke in your mind?

I'm always thinking about the next concert theme. The idea came to me that there is a lot of music that focuses on night, which happens to be one of my favorite times. It allowed for a tremendous amount of variety in the show. There's jazz ("A Night in Tunisia"), classical ("Eine Kleine Nachtmusik"), and "Dies Irae" from Verdi's Requim, movie soundtracks ("Star Trek: Into Darkness"), and the music of Danny Elfman, plus several solo features.

Say someone is interested in attending and they've never seen a Pride Wind Ensemble concert before. Without giving too much away, what should they expect to see and hear?

If this is your first Pride Wind Ensemble concert, you should not expect to sit quietly while the band plays lots of music that you've never heard before as you look at your watch, waiting for the end of the first half so you can quietly slip out. You will hear lots of exciting music, most of which will be familiar to you, played extremely well by about sixty incredible musicians. You will see special lighting effects, video productions, and some truly amazing soloists featured. Our Steel Drum Band will be performing during intermission in the lower lobby. They are our newest addition and they are fantastic under the direction of Ron Hughes.All I can say is that it's not your ordinary concert. I often refer to our concerts as shows, simply because there's so much entertainment value.

How can people support the Pride Wind Ensemble if they can't attend the event on June 7?

We gladly accept donations through our website at pridewindensemble.org. You can come see us at all the pride events in Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, and Broward Counties.

"Like" the Pride Wind Ensemble on facebook at facebook.com/pridewindensemble and follow them on twitter at @SFPWindEnsemble