Yale Concert Band to perform 'Little Threepenny Music' and 'What We Do Is Secret'

Kurt Weill’s “Little Threepenny Music for Wind Ensemble” and Lansing McLoskey’s “What We Do Is Secret” for wind ensemble and brass quintet are among the works the Yale Concert Band will perform in its next concert on Friday, Feb. 20, at 7:30 p.m. in Woolsey Hall, 500 College St. The event is free.

”Little Threepenny Music for Wind Ensemble” was composed as part of a collaboration between Weill and German playwright and theater director Bertolt Brecht. The opera, first performed in Berlin in 1928, presents a dark, tangled plot of beggars and thieves. Weill’s score draws from jazz influences of the time and features the macabre “Mack the Knife.”

McLoskey wrote “What We Do Is Secret” in 2011 for wind ensemble and solo brass quintet. The piece draws its title from the 1978 album by the punk band The Germs. Each movement is named after a song from an early Los Angeles punk band. This performance will feature Yale School of Music students Daniel Venora and Aaron Krumsieg, trumpets; Reese Farnell; French horn; Omar Dejesus, trombone; and John Caughman, tuba.

The concert will also feature songs by percy Grainger, Gordon Jacob, Johann Strauss, and Richard Strauss. For further information, vist the Yale Concert Band website.