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Student musicians are set to blow listeners away on the KU Wind Ensemble’s new album, “Midnight Sun,” a triumphant entry in the group’s repertoire.
Paul Popiel said he started his career as a band kid. Now, as the dean of KU’s School of Music and one of the conductors of the KU Wind Ensemble, he gets to guide his creative kin through their own careers.
He said recording an album is a singular opportunity for budding performers.
“It really puts us in the highest echelon of university bands,” Popiel said. “There aren’t many that do this, especially on a commercial label.”
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The ensemble is entirely composed of university students. “Midnight Sun,” released earlier this month, is the group’s ninth album available for streaming.
Rather than provide elaborate reasons for how pieces meld together and his programming machinations, Popiel’s reasoning for the project is straightforward.
“It’s just music that I love, and it was a little bit selfish,” he said. “I just wanted to do music that I love to do, and it was fun to play and fun to make music with students.”
He added, “I’m drawn to band music and that instrumentation and those sounds, and so are the students. And so I just look for music that I enjoy, that is meaningful to me and I think will be enjoyable and meaningful and impactful to an audience.”
The Jayhawk spirit is imbued throughout the CD, bookended with alumni compositions.
The first track, “Majestic,” is a fanfare-filled welcome to the melodies of “Midnight Sun.” The song was composed by James Barnes, who graduated from KU and is now a professor emeritus in composition and university bands after four decades of instruction.
The album then reaches a triumphant crescendo with the three movements of “Concerto for Euphonium” by Tom Davoren.
Davoren is a recent graduate of KU’s conducting Ph.D. program and now teaches at Benedictine College in Atchison. The wind ensemble recorded the concerto featuring soloist Hiram Diaz, a distinguished member of “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, a few years ago for “Midnight Sun.”
Just recently, Davoren was recognized with the prestigious American Bandmasters Association Ostwald Composition Prize for the piece.
It takes some grit, sore embouchures and split reeds to make a commercial band recording happen.
Popiel says the stage was decorated with microphones, and students were glued to their music stands for hours, often going over the same passage again and again.
“My job in the recording session is to keep them loose and relaxed and not let the pressure of the moment slow them down, but they know the pressure’s there,” Popiel said. “They know the clock is ticking, and … we did this whole project in a weekend.”
The result is a euphonic ear candy for listeners and a melodic scrapbook for Popiel. As “Midnight Sun” was recorded in spring 2024, he said it reminds him of his past students who contributed to the project.
“It’s an honor and joy to make music with these great student musicians,” he said. “They are the highlight of every day that I’m with them, and putting together this project is just all joy. It’s hard work, it’s intense, it’s pressure-filled, but I have such fond memories when I listen to the CD now.”
“Midnight Sun” is available on most major streaming platforms. Audiophiles who would like a physical CD can contact the KU band office at [email protected].
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Wulfe Wulfemeyer (they/them), reporter and news editor, has worked with The Lawrence Times since May 2025. They can be reached at [email protected].
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