The University of Rhode Island Department of Music kicks off the winter-spring music season with two events in January. The URI Alumni Wind Ensemble will offer a free concert on Sunday, January 12 at 3 p.m., and the Southern New England Honors Band Festival, including a shared concert with the American Band, will be held on the weekend of Jan. 18.

The Wind Ensemble, directed by Brian Cardany, will perform in the URI Fine Arts Center Concert Hall, 105 Upper College Rd., Kingston. The concert will include “Huldigungsmarsch” by Richard Wagner, “Psalm for Band” by Vincent Persichetti, “I’m Seventeen Come Sunday” by Percy Grainger, “Handel in the Strand” also by Percy Grainger, and “Valdres” by Johannes Hanssen.

The Southern New England Honor Band, consisting of talented high school musicians from Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut, will rehearse on Friday, Jan. 17, in the Fine Arts Center Recital Hall (Room C100), with guest conductor Terry Austin from Virginia Commonwealth University. They will perform a final concert to be shared with The American Band in the Fine Arts Center Concert Hall on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. that is open to the public with free admission. Brian Cardany, URI’s Assistant Director of Bands, coordinates the festival.

The URI Concert Hall is handicap-accessible, and parking is available behind the Fine Arts Center, off Bills Road. For more information, contact the URI Department of Music, 874-2431, or check the website www.uri.edu/

music.