A splendid Sunday afternoon was shared with Moorpark College students and the community. The Wind Ensemble featuring Luis Zuniga on the saxophone delighted the crowd with their whimsical take on music ranging from the classics to Broadway tunes to even modern day masterpieces.

Brendan McMullin, college wind ensemble director, said he was very ambitious with the music they chose. Being extremely difficult music, he felt they pulled it off and was happy they were able to make it happen.

“It gets people in the zone where you connect with people on a much higher level that you can’t get anywhere else,” said McMullin.

The show featured Moorpark’s very own faculty member, Zuniga, on the saxophone along side of the wind ensemble during the piece “Diversion” by Bernhard Heiden.

McMullin said one of the great things about the program is they have a range of ages and music majors as well as applied music majors.

“I’m hopeful that these great experiences will bring more people in,” said McMullin. “The core of people that we have here is pretty amazing.”

Tim Perez, 21-year-old music major, said he was very excited for the show and to hear some awesome music performed.

“[I] walked away with my expectations exceeded by ten-fold,” said Perez. “These guys are skilled, yet passionate, and it shined today.”

McMullin gave a speech right before each piece to give the audience a taste of the music and the visual effect of the whole piece as one.

For music major, Royal Dean, there was one in particular piece that really stood out to him.

“My favorite piece is probably the ritual dance,” said Dean. “I could definitely visualize what was happening.”

So many beautiful pieces were performed by wonderful composers including:

• “Ritual Fire Dance from ‘El Amor Brujo'” composed by Manuel De Falla; transcribed by Shinji Kasama

• “Cuernavaca, Latin Scherzo for Band,” composed by Joseph Willcox Jenkins

• “Diversion” composed by Bernhard Heiden; featuring Luis Zuniga on alto saxophone

• “Symphonic Dance Music from ‘West Side Story'” composed by Leonard Bernstein; transcribed by Ian Polster

• “Symphony No. 1 ‘The Lord of the Rings'” composed by Johann De Meij

Perez said the music was fantastic and one piece that stood out to him was “Symphonic Dance Music from ‘West Side Story,'”

“This selection was a great medley of different styles from jazz to mambo,” said Perez. “This really showed off Bernstein’s skills and the Moorpark College Wind Ensemble’s chops.”

Perez feels performances like these help shed light on the history and evolution of music and the orchestra.

“Shows of this nature show the musical arts as not only entertainment, but knowledge we cannot achieve from lectures or textbooks,” said Perez.

McMullin feels that the wind ensemble exposes people to great music and that Sunday’s performance was a success.

“I’m hoping that is setting the high bar and pushing them hard,” said McMullin. “It is really a matter of finding that balance and life is all about finding that balance.”