Music and Dance to Host 45th Annual Multiband Pops

The 45^th Annual Multiband Pops will take place on Friday, Oct. 18 at 7:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center Concert Hall. Presented by the department of music and dance, the event is a major highlight of the fall event calendar and regularly draws a sell-out crowd from around New England and beyond. Multiband Pops is coordinated by Jeffrey W. Holmes, director of the jazz and African-American music studies program. This year, Holmes celebrates his 40^th anniversary as a member of the department.

Each year, Multiband Pops serves as a showcase of the department’s finest wind, orchestral, brass, choral, percussion and dance ensembles, plus the Minuteman Marching Band. The flow of the concert is choreographed so that there are no breaks (except intermission), with performances taking place in an array of locations around the concert hall. The result is a fast-paced tour-de-force that is sure to appeal to a variety of audiences.

All of the department’s major ensembles will be on hand to perform, including the UMass Amherst Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble I, University Dancers, Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Choir, along with the Symphony Band, Chapel Jazz and Vocal Jazz Ensembles, Trumpet and Saxophone Ensembles, Horn and Trombone Choirs, Percussion Ensemble and UMass Marimbas. In keeping with tradition, the full UMass Minuteman Marching Band, the “Pride and Class” of New England, will perform portions of their 2019 field show during the second half of the concert.

Tickets for the Multiband Pops concert are $25 general public and $18 for students and seniors, and can be purchased from the Fine Arts Center Box Office at 413-545-2511 or at fineartscenter.com/musicanddance.