Rock Band Kansas to Perform on Campus With UA’s Huxford Symphony

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Kansas, the rock band known for such hits as “Carry on Wayward Son” and “Dust in the Wind,” will perform with The University of Alabama’s Huxford Symphony Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 9, and Friday, Sept. 10, in the Concert Hall of Moody Music Building.

The concerts are part of a tour Kansas is performing to raise money for college music programs.

“These will be full-blown concerts with pro lights and sound,” says Phil Ehart, drummer for the band. “Kansas prides itself in performing first class shows no matter what the venue. Our college tour will showcase Kansas and each school’s orchestra in the best possible manner.”

The band’s UA stop will benefit the School of Music, part of The College of Arts and Sciences.

“This will certainly be a very special event and one that is certainly nontraditional relative to our typical offerings,” said Charles G. “Skip” Snead, director of the School of Music.

“It will be a terrific presentation that should be spectacular for the audience and our student performers, affording them the opportunity to work with one of the great iconic groups of the recent generation in a style and genre of music that will be a bit new for some of them.”

Snead sees the concert as an opportunity to let the community know what the School of Music is doing.

“This concert allows us to promote the fact that the School of Music is more than simply a ‘classical’ training ground,” he said. “Whereas that is a significant and highly valued staple of what we do, we are about the presentation of great music of all kinds.These concerts will be an opportunity for our community.”

The presenting sponsor is D’Addario & Co., a musical products accessory manufacturer. D’Addario will give a one-time $2,000 scholarship to UA’s, School of Music. In addition to the scholarship, D’Addario & Co. will give the school a selection of products from its catalogs.

Beginning with its first album “Kansas,” released in 1974, the band became one of the most popular rock acts of the 1970s. The band’s releases include 1976’s “Leftoverture” and 1977’s “Point of Know Return.” In addition to Ehart, the band is comprised of singer-keyboardist Steve Walsh, guitarist Rich Williams, bassist Billy Greer and violinist David Ragsdale.

In 2009, Kansas issued a CD-DVD titled “There’s Know Place Like Home,” in which the band performed with the Washburn University Orchestra; that album inspired the latest tour.

Tickets for Kansas and the Huxford Symphony Orchestra of The University of Alabama are $42 for Main Floor, $37 for First Balcony and $32 for Second Balcony. For ticket information or an immediate credit card purchase, phone the School of Music Box Office at 205/348-7111.

The School of Music is part of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.