The music department will host its biggest indoor event of the fall semester, the ISU Band Extravaganza, containing over a dozen musical selections from almost 400 students in three different university ensembles.

On Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. the Marching Band, Wind and Jazz Ensembles will be performing selections highlighting their respective styles of music and the talents of their various members. The event will be held at C.Y. Stephens and is open to the public.

The first group to perform on Saturday will be the Wind Ensemble whose 45 members are under the direction of the director of bands for the university, Joseph Christensen. The group will be performing two pieces “Courtly Dance” by Benjamin Britten and “Celebration” by Phillip Starke.

The Wind Ensemble, which represents the best musical talents at Iowa State, is one which Christensen said is striving for the highest degree of perfection they can achieve.

For the second portion of the concert will feature the first jazz ensemble at the university. The 18-member group under James Bovinette will play “Milestones,” by Miles Davis which will feature a trumpet solo by James Campbell and “Sugar” by Stanley Turrentine featuring several soloists from the various sections of the band.

“We perform a wide spectrum of musical jazz,” Bovinette said. “There is a great diversity in the student population. We want to give students a creative outlet and jazz gives them them that opportunity.”

The evening’s performances will conclude with the 275-member marching band’s only indoor performance of the year, led by John LaCognata. The group will be performing some of the tunes which were the highlights of their halftime shows during the past season. Included in the performance will be such local favorites as the “Iowa State Fanfare,” “The Iowa State Fight Song” and “The Bells of Iowa State.”

The performance will also feature the talents of the twirlers and the flag corps. The songs “You Really Got Me” by The Kinks and “Magical Mystery Tour” by the Beatles will feature the talents of the group’s two twirlers.

The group will then spotlight the 24 member flag corps during “You are the Sunshine of My Life,” by Stevie Wonder and a medley of four popular Beatles tunes, LaCognata said.

The group will also be performing an arrangement specifically for marching bands called “Throwdown,” They will also conclude the evening with Lee Greenwood’s patriotic anthem “God Bless the USA.”

All of the director’s stress the evening is one in which the audience will be entertained by a wide variety of music from the different bands.

The directors are also confident that the event will be a success based on the attendance at the event in past years, and anticipate a crowd which would exceed that of past years.

“The event provides a cross section of classical and jazz with the fanfare of the marching band,” LaCognata said. “I’m very happy to be involved in the tradition of the Band Extravaganza.”

Tickets, which cost $6 for adults, $5 for senior citizens and students and $4 for children, are available from all Ticketmaster outlets.