Welcome to the Salem Symphonic Winds Website! Details about our upcoming performance are below.
Tickets are on sale for Chant At The Moon, at the venue for the 6 pm concert on Sunday, August 15 at Youngberg Hill. Bring a picnic, a lawn chair or blanket, and join us!
The concert will feature Jeff Witt, vocal soloist and Tim Sasaki & Emily Lindley will be featured soloists on a xylophone showcase. This relaxing vineyard concert will include Broadway, rock, jazz and traditional popular tunes for an audience on the lawn of the picturesque Youngberg Hill Winery in McMinnville.
August 15th is celebrated as National Chant at the Moon Day. It was inspired by the Wenatchee, Washington-based fruit grower, Stemilt’s. According to local legend, the harvesting of cherries prior to a full moon makes them sweeter. The moon’s gravitational pull enhances the tree roots where the cherries are grown. Stemilt decided all this sweetness deserved a celebration.
Chant at the Moon Day Is now recognized as a national celebration. Audience members are invited to join the fun, enjoy the music, the wine (or other beverage, and let loose with their best lunar cheer at the event to nurture the already wonderful grapes at Youngberg Hill.
John F. Skelton
John Skelton will conduct the program, a warmup for their 47th season that will begin with a concert at the Elsinore Theatre in Salem on October 24 featuring David Hammock of KMUZ Radio as narrator. The band performs a series of four concerts each season.
Their 45th season was interrupted by COVID-19 restrictions and their 46th season was cancelled.
The band is thrilled to again be able to bring the best of new and traditional music to our audiences, beginning with this concert at Youngberg Hill.
Featuring Jeff Witt - Vocal Soloist
Our Vocal Soloist
Jeff Witt has been thrilling musical theatre audiences around the valley for the past 25 years.
Some of his favorite roles are Gomez in The Addams Family, Igor in Young Frankenstein, Jean Valjean in Les Misérables, Archibald Craven in The Secret Garden, Angel in Rent, Nicely Nicely Johnson in Guys and Dolls, Horton the Elephant in Seussical the Musical and King Arthur in Spamalot.
Jeff Witt will sing a new arrangement of Danny Boy by Larry Harrington, Anthem from the musical Chess, Teddy Bear’s Picnic, and By The Light of the Silvery Moon. He will also narrate an entertaining rendition of the poem Casey at the Bat. Tim Sasaki and Emily Lindley will be featured on a xylophone showcase from the Roaring 20’s by Eddie Green, Xylophonia. The band will perform selections including Broadway tunes Wizard of Oz and Fiddler on the Roof, Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, Spain by Chick Corea, Under the Sea from Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Tico, Tico, and Sousa’s Liberty Bell March, better known as the Theme from Monty Python.
Jeff is the vocal music and drama director at Central High School in Monmouth. His choir earned a first-place tie at the 2018 OSAA State Choir Championship.