Notes from the Grand Opening of Windgate Concert Hall

Before you can go to the moon (or Mars), you'll need to build a launchpad. I see the Windgate stage as a launchpad. A place where new music will be sent out into the world and, most importantly, where young musicians will launch their careers as performers, teachers, and creative artists. The Windgate Center at UCA is really a launch complex, with additional pads for theater and art surrounded by support structures.

During the groundbreaking ceremonies, the percussion ensemble performed for the crowd in the middle of Bruce Street. A!er that, I drove by almost every single day to see what was new. As construction continued, I put on a hard hat and visited the site as o!en as possible. I was amazed by how many people were working on so many different parts of the building. The sounds of wood and metal, hammering and welding, cranes and trucks, paint sprayers, and concrete mixers were all around as it grew from a field of dirt into an incredible space for the arts. Those sounds are part of the inspiration for this piece.

Launchpad is a fanfare filled with joy and excitement and is wri#en for this concert hall at this moment for this once-in-a-lifetime performance. It combines the members of the UCA Percussion Ensemble, Third Coast Percussion, and dozens of students from Central Arkansas high schools to celebrate this space's beginnings and its possibilities. I hope you feel surrounded by the joy we all feel as we stand on the launchpad that will give so many artists, now and in the future, a chance to dream of the next seemingly impossible thing and to make it a reality.

Launchpad is dedicated to everyone who dreamed of this place, to everyone who generously supported the dream, to everyone who planned and designed the space, and to everyone who physically built the Windgate Center for Fine and Performing Arts. Incredible things will happen here. History will be made here. We are lucky to be members of the first crew on the Launchpad.

By the way, Launchpad is built on a musical motive made from the name of UCA's mascot. Musically, it spells out BEAR with the notes B, E, A, and Re (Italian for the note D). You'll hear B E A Re ringing from the chimes throughout the piece. The motive also pops up in every other part at some point. And don't worry if you see some le!over building supplies lying around. We've got a crew coming in!

The high school percussionists with us tonight from Conway High School, the Episcopal Collegiate School, and Perryville High School are students of four UCA Percussion alumni (Erick Saoud, MM 2001; Matt Hines, BME 2010; Scott Strickland, MM 2016, GC 2017; and Joshua Harley, BME 2017, MM 2023). We are so proud of all they do to share their knowledge and love of music with new generations of musicians. – Blake Tyson