Keith Gates: News

Lake Charles Civic Ballet Honors the LIfe of Keith Gates
Written by Press Release
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
The Lake Charles Civic Ballet will present their 2007-2008 season finale, Sunday May 18 at 3:00 PM, in the Lake Charles Civic Center's Rosa Hart Theatre. The performance is a tribute to composer Keith Gates and admission is FREE. Featured performances include a new work entitled "Nocturne," and popular favorite "Louisiana Saturday Night."



The long standing relationship with Keith Gates and Lake Charles Civic Ballet produced many wonderful performances for Southwest Louisiana. Mr. Gates composed the music for the LCCB production entitled "The Fable." Lady Holly Hathaway, artistic director of LCCB, worked with him on "A Day in Hollywood, A Night in the Ukraine."



The work of Keith Gates is alive today as envisioned by his daughter, Elizabeth Gates, a former LCCB company member and current LCCB instructor. Ms. Gates will present a new work entitled "Nocturne," and choreographed to music written by her father. Concertino for Flute and Wind Ensemble was composed by Keith Gates in 1996, and has been performed by the United States Air Force Heritage of America Band.



The exciting tribute will also feature Chris Miller & Bayou Roots on stage live for the production of the LCCB classic, "Louisiana Saturday Night." Originally choreographed by artistic director Lady Leah Lafargue Hathway, the current production is directed by Lady Holly Hathaway Kaough, associate director of LCCB. The band will open with 'Jambalaya,' setting the tone for the ballet. The entire cast will join in the fun with exciting, high energy music and fiddle playing action. 'Jolie Blonde', 'Diggy, Diggy, Lo', 'Don't mess with my Tutu', 'Louisiana Saturday Night', and many more traditional Cajun songs merge with the world of classical ballet to wrap up the evening. Classical ballet does not always have to look 'classical', but can be fun, wild and molded to blend with our Southwest Louisiana culture.



In addition to the company season finale, the tribute, and special guests, Lake Charles Civic Ballet will present the students of Lady Leah LaFargue School of the Dance in Recital. The Lake Charles Civic Ballet tribute to the life and work of Keith Gates is a show that you won't want to miss! LCCB is supported by grants from the Louisiana State Arts Council through the Louisiana Division of the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts as administered by the Arts and Humanities Council of Southwest Louisiana.

When 25-year-old Brian Gindy died of leukemia in 1997, his music
professor, Dr. David Waybright, wanted to honor the young trumpeter with a wind symphony - something that reflected the full and talented life that was lost when Gindy, a member of the Pride of the Sunshine Marching Band at the University of Florida, died.

For the composition of the symphony, Waybright thought of the most spiritual composer he knew: McNeese State University professor Keith Gates, a graduate of the New York Juilliard School and a renowned composer who received commissions and grants to write the operas "Tom Sawyer," "The Hollow" and "Evangeline." Gates responded to Waybright's commission with "The Last Voluntary," a solemn, quiet composition that
features a trumpet call and solo in Gindy's memory.

At 2:30 p.m. Saturday, April 26, Waybright, director of bands at UF, will have the unique opportunity to conduct the McNeese Wind Symphony in a performance of "The Last Voluntary" during a free performance in McNeese's F.G. Bulber Auditorium. Direction of the piece will be particularly poignant because it will also be performed as a tribute to Gates, who died of pancreatic cancer in May 2007.

The McNeese department of performing arts dedicated its 2007-08 season to Gates, who Waybright describes as a "misplaced romanticist," with a style reminiscent of the 19th century Romantic period of Brahms and Berlioz.

"Keith was extremely passionate and that passion came out in his music," said Waybright, who worked with Gates at McNeese from 1984-87. "He always struck me as a spiritual person who was able to rise above."

Waybright was invited to conduct for McNeese by Dr. Jay Jacobs, a former student of his from UF and the current director of bands for McNeese. Jacobs asked if he could perform one of the Gates pieces as part of the tribute. Waybright immediately knew which piece he wanted to conduct.

"'The Last Voluntary' is a somber piece, so I'm not sure if it's been
played as much as some of his other pieces, but it was certainly the most appropriate thing I could think of to play for the concert. The piece was commissioned for me and now it is not only a tribute to Brian, but it also pays tribute to Keith," Waybright said.

Please write us if you have a Gates performance so we can add it to the calendar. Fortunately not all Gates performances are in Lake Charles or Potsdam, and we need to publicize them. We sometimes hear from people in different parts of the country, who would have attended a concert had they known about it.

Louisiana Public Broadcasting will show Keith Gates' Requiem, "AMERICAN REQUIEM: A TRIBUTE TO THE TRAGEDY OF SEPT 11th" (HD). The half-hour program will air on
Sunday, May 25th at 5:30 p.m. and Monday, May 26th at 4:00 p.m.

LPB statewide High Definition channels are WLPB-HD, KLPA-HD, KLPB-HD, KLTL-HD, KLTM-HD, and KLTS-HD.

The webcast of the April 8 concert of Gates music is available any time at www.mogulus.com/keithgates. A number of Crane School of Music faculty and guests performed woodwind, brass, string, vocal and choral music. Included on the program was the premiere of "Pastoral Lament" with words for Keith by John Wood and music by Steven Manley, dedicated to Lane Miller.

We are happy to announce that there is a facebook group named "Keith Gates Fan Club". It was founded on March 25, 2008. Facebook users may also want to visit "Music of Keith Gates" for information on Julie Miller's April 8 Gates recital. We will keep you posted on future exciting developments.

Many of Keith's scores are now available through Carriage House Publications. Now YOU can perform the music of Keith Gates! Please write lanemiller(at)keithgates.com to place an order.

Alumni from the North Carolina School of the Arts came together to perform a Tribute Concert for Keith Gates on January 7, 2007 in Watson Chamber Music Hall on the North Carolina School of the Arts campus. The program featured works written by and for Gates, who graduated from the NCSA high school program in 1967. Flutist and conductor Ransom Wilson, who graduated from the NCSA School of Music in 1969, recruited NCSA music and drama alumni from across the country to perform on the concert.