There is more than music in store when the Concert Band and Campus Band present Earth Songs on Wednesday, June 1, at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts. The Earth Songs concert is primarily a salute to the biological, ecological and agricultural sciences — with some bicycling thrown in.

The organizers said the concert will be preceded by an exposition featuring such campus organizations and units as the Bio Boosters, the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology, and the Horse Barn and the Equestrian Team, and such outside organizations as the Yolo County Farm Bureau, the YoloArts’ Arts and Ag Project, and the Heidrick Ag History Center.

The exposition is scheduled from 6 to 7 p.m. in the lobby of the Mondavi Center, with entertainment by the Putah Creek Crawdads, performing bluegrass and folk music.

Then comes the main event, in Jackson Hall. The program:

• Aaron Copland — Hoedown from Rodeo
• Gustav Holst — Mars from The Planets
• John Jayce Ogren — Symphonies of Gaia
• Ottorino Respighi — A 100-performer rendition of the finale from Pines of Rome (heard in the humpback whale scene in the Disney film Fantasia 2000)
• Camille Saint-Saëns — Highlights from Carnival of the Animals
• Daniel Welcher — Zion, a sonic exploration of the beauty of Zion National Park

The program also features UC Davis alumni in the American River Brass Quintet, accompanying 4- to 6-year-old dancers from Davis’ Peregrine School in a performance of Dancing to Restore an Eclipsed Moon from Eric Ewazen’s Shadowcatcher.

But, wait, there’s more, as the concert organizers look beyond biology, ecology and agriculture to highlight another UC Davis distinction: bicycles. This explains why the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame is participating in the preconcert exposition, and why the concert program includes the following:

• Dave Jones — A light-hearted mash-up by this UC Davis alumnus, who, incidentally, cycled across the United States in 2010
• Eric Whitacre — Noisy Wheels of Joy

More from the Department of Music

Jazz Bands: Guest Artists — Featuring composer, arranger and saxophonist Gregory Yasinitsky, along with Carlos Medrano on congas and Tim Acosta on trumpet. 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 25, Vanderhoef Studio Theatre. The program includes:

• Jerome Kern — All the Things You Are
• Henry Mancini — Dreamsville
• Maurice White — September
  
• Plus three works by Yasinitsky and several pieces by Delbert Bump, who directs the UC Daviz Jazz Bands: the "big band" and the smaller combo

Yasinitsky, who has performed with such artists as Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Louis Bellson and Stan Getz, is a Regents Professor of Music at Washington State University, and in June will become director of WSU's School of Music.

Symphony Orchestra — Family Concert, featuring the winners of the orchestra's 2011 Concerto Competition (Han-ah Sumner, who regularly plays cello in the Symphony Orchestra) and the Composition Readings Award (graduate composer Gabriel Bolaños). 7 p.m. Thursday, June 2, Jackson Hall. The program:

• Ludwig van Beethoven — Leonore Overture No. 3
• Bolaños — Cerro Negro
• Beethoven — Allegro moderato from Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, with Han-ah Sumner, piano
• Johann Strauss II — Emperor Waltz

Tickets are priced the same for both concerts: $12 adults, $8 students and children, available online or by visiting or calling the Mondavi Center box office, (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787. Box office hours: noon-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday, and one hour before ticketed events.