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CSU FACULTY BASSOON WITH JOOYEON CHANG CSU MUSIC FACULTY PIANO
The New American Bassoon MARCH 8, 2021
T h e N e w A m e r i c an B a s s o o n
P R O G R A M :
TUMULT AND TENACITY / NANCY HILL COBB GHOST DANCE / ANN GEBUHR AHALUGISDI UNOLE (TO QUIET THE WIND) / THOMAS J. DEMPSTER NIGHTFALL, FROM CIRCADIA / ADRIENNE ALBERT A MOMENT IN THE COASTAL PLAINS / DENZEL WASHINGTON World Premiere ELEGY FOR INNOCENCE / JEFF SCOTT
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PROGRAM NOTES The bassoon has evolved from the earliest wind instruments of the medieval era, and often the concept of its use in musical contexts and its expressive voice is limited by the sounds most associated with a historical artifact. Most music lovers know the bassoon by this sound - the gruff grandfather in Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, the mischievous Fantasia broomsticks of Dukas’ Sorcerer’s Apprentice, or the opening wails of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Performers and pedagogues over the past 30 years, however, have expanded the sound possibilities for the instrument, creating a new wave of compositional interest to feature its expressive capabilities beyond the archaic, grumpy, and tragic. Tonight we explore - through this modern American sound - the concept of growing as a modern American. Nancy Cobb opens the program depicting our recent times of tumult and the personal tenacity we find to overcome. Denzel Washington illustrates the unique regionalism and diversity that builds our individual personalities and backgrounds. Adrienne Albert explores our potential to slip, horrifyingly, into the dark, and Thomas Dempster highlights one possible violent outcome of allowing our differences and detachment from the American soil itself. Ann Gebuhr reminds us to plea for freedom, strive for peace, and respect our land. Finally, Jeff Scott concludes with a reflection on the gray areas of our lives and helps us to celebrate the good. Tumult and Tenacity - Nancy Hill Cobb *Colorado Premiere World premiere performed in 2017 by Cayla Bellamy with Robin Guy, piano. video notes spoken by the composer A Moment in the Coastal Plains - Denzel Washington *World Premiere video notes spoken by the composer Circadia - Adrienne Albert Commissioned by Carolyn Beck, "Circadia," a sonata for bassoon and piano in three movements, refers to the daily pulse, rhythms, and cycle of activities observed in many living organisms. … Since the horrible events of 9/11, our world seems to be moving with harrowing speed toward the precipice of Armageddon. The second movement, "Nightfall," is a reflective, melancholy and brooding piece which mirrors the descent from day into night. notes provided by the composer
ahalugisdi unole (to quiet the wind) - Thomas J. Dempster Inspired by a painting by America Meredith, ahalugisdi unole – as a work of visual art – chronicles a small slice of imagined activity and movement within a patch of forest that may not last much longer. Taking inspiration from her Cherokee ancestry and the numerous folk tales that proliferate Cherokee heritage, Meredith’s painting displays a singing bear – at once quirky and majestic – nearly blending in with an affected woodgrain background. On the right hand side of the painting is a clenched fist with a bent wrist, suggesting a violence directed at the sounds and sights of nature, in a manner befitting a Terry Gilliam illustration, though the bent wrist suggests the human interloper will not make it out of the kerfuffle unscathed. Mankind wants to quash the voices of nature and silence it, if for nothing else, to end the inconvenience. Why else harm a singing bear? The bassoon plays numerous roles in the work, accompanied by and in dialogue with a rich array of digital sounds, all extracted from the bassoon. The live performer shifts from embodying the mystery and quiet grandeur of nature, to the mechanizations and rhythms of human interference, to the open, marvelous choirs of nature at greenest flush. The electronic sounds span from representing birds, frogs, humans, and the wind. Please visit America Meredith’s website and view her paintings and illustrations at www.ahalenia.com/america. notes provided by the composer Ghost Dance - Ann K. Gebuhr The Native American ghost dance is part of a religious ceremony for the regeneration of the earth and the restoration of the earth's caretakers to their former life. The religion experienced its fullest and most widespread practice during the late 19th century, when devastation to the buffalo herds, to the land, and to the Native American tribes was at its peak. The Ghost Dance affected no group more than the Lakota Sioux. Several Lakota bands sent emissaries to interview its founder and priest Wovoka about his teachings. They reported in early 1890 Wovoka's message that performing Ghost Dance would bring back dead Indians, return the huge buffalo herds, and create a natural disaster that would remove the foreigners and restore the Indian way of life that had existed prior to the European influx. The religious dance was not an incitement to war or violence, but more a passionate plea for freedom and a return to their lands and life. The treaties intended to bring peace were often ignored, and the tribes had been rounded up and herded onto reservations (usually the poorest land in the territory). Then they were subjected to near prison-
camp-like regulations and restrictions and most of their requests were largely ignored or refused. Although practiced by a Lakota tribe in Canada until the 1960s and revived briefly in South Dakota in the 1970s, Ghost Dances were ended in 1890 by the US 7th Cavalry at the Wounded Knee massacre of 297 Lakota Sioux men, women and children during the dance ceremony. Unfortunately today there are still the remains of those types of treatment, vis a vis the Dakota Pipeline invasion, with the use and destruction of Native American lands that were granted through treaties which are now inconvenient. And beyond that barely acknowledged unjust activity, the bigotry, racial hatred, denial of voting rights, and probable unconstitutional treatment of Native Americans continue to this day. Robert's poem conveys some of the deep imagery of the Lakota experience, and its expression carries a still living message. Ghost Dance It's what you dream when your culture is denatured . . . The return, One thunderous afternoon, Of buffalo, deer, elk . . . Pondering the red clay Into ancestral smoke. Remembrance, Throbbing before the bloodshot eye, Captures the burden of raindance, Though it loosen not one tear From the vacant sky. Crazed with wrinkles, The Old People awaken And stagger in buckskin Among the white hills Of a late-winter camp. © Robert S. Hatten February 23, 1989 This original poem was inspired by reading Black Elk Speaks (1932, 1961, 1988, 2008), the memories of an Oglala Lakota medicine man, told through and translated into English by his son, while being transcribed (and subsequently edited) by John G. Neihardt. Black Elk had participated in the Ghost Dance, and was a survivor of the Battle of Little Big Horn and the Wounded Knee Massacre. The poem inspired this piece for solo bassoon. notes provided by the composer Elegy for Innocence - Jeff Scott video notes spoken by the composer
THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC, THEATRE, AND DANCE PRESENTS
GUITAR STUDIO RECITAL AN SMTD LIVE-STREAMED PERFORMANCE
The guitar studio of Jeff LaQuatra presents a recital featuring chamber music and solo performances of contemporary works, as well as arrangements of standard classical repertoire.
MARCH 24, 2021 | 6 PM
F O R S T R E A M I N G I N F O R M AT I O N , V I S I T C S UA R T S T I C K E T S . C O M
BIO G RA P H IES DR. CAYLA BELLAMY is assistant professor of bassoon at Colorado State University, where she teaches courses in applied bassoon, chamber music, and contemporary music performance. Prior to this appointment, she served as assistant professor of bassoon at the University of Northern Iowa, where she also held positions as contrabassoonist for the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra and Des Moines Metro Opera and was the founding bassoonist of the Kairos Trio. In the 2019-2020 season, Cayla performed several new American bassoon concerti, including works by Joan Tower, Libby Larsen, and James Stephenson, and she is an upcoming premiering soloist for John Steinmetz’ newest commission, The Illusion of Separateness. As an active chamber musician, she has performed at both national and international conferences for the International Double Reed Society, Flute New Music Consortium, International Clarinet Association, North American Saxophone Alliance, National Association of Wind and Percussion Instructors, and College Music Society. Cayla released her debut album in 2018 entitled Double or Nothing under the Mark Records label, a collection of previously unrecorded bassoon solos and duos, and she will be heard on the upcoming release of A Bassoonist’s World, the newest album of William Ludwig (Indiana University) in collaboration with Steve Vacchi (University of Oregon), Amy Pollard (University of Georgia), and Danielle Batchelder (West Virginia Symphony). A multifaceted performer and educator, Cayla has also served on the conducting faculties for the New York Summer School of the Arts, Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra, the theatre department and opera programs at the University of Northern Iowa, and the Gwinnett County Public Schools (GA). Offstage, she is an amateur triathlete, and her research focuses on coaching methodologies and the intersections of artistic and athletic training, currently investigating the factors affecting burnout in high performing individuals. Cayla completed the Doctor of Music degree from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music with minor field coursework in music education and arts administration, and she also holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Music Education and Bassoon Performance from the University of Georgia, where she was distinguished as a National Presser Scholar.
caylabellamy.com
DR. JOOYEON CHANG is an active collaborative pianist, embracing a massive variety of repertoires including winds, strings, opera, musical theatre, and large ensembles. She has worked as a collaborative pianist in Korea, France, the United Kingdom, Austria, Italy, Luxemburg, and the USA. She has performed with world-renowned brass musicians such tuba greats as Øystein Baadsvik, Roland Szentpali, Thomas Lulu, and Euphonium players Steven Mead, Anthony Caillet, and Bastien Baumet. For many years, she has been official staff pianist for the Jeju International Wind Ensemble Festival, Chœur de l’Orchestre de Paris, and a guest accompanist of Musique de Armée de l'Air de Paris. She also served the 2012 ITEC (International Tuba Euphonium Conference) at Linz. Born in Seoul, Dr. Chang earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Collaborative Piano at the University of Texas at Austin in 2019. She holds Master of Arts at the Royal Academy of Music in London, a Diplôme d'Études Musicales at the Conservatoire national de région de Paris, and an Artistic Diploma at the Korean National University of Arts in piano accompaniment. She also received a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the Korean National University of Arts in 2003. Her major teachers include Bangwon Han, Anne Epperson, Collet Valentine, Andrew West, James Baillieu, Michael Dussek, Claude Collet and Jongphil Lim. Dr. Chang served on the keyboard faculty at the SungShin Women’s University, ChungAng University, Seoul Jangsin University, SungShin Women’s University, and Chungkang College of Cultural Industries. She has lectured about "Technique (sight-reading and transposition) of Piano Accompaniment" at SungShin Women’s University. Dr. Chang has recently joined as a member of collaborative piano faculty at the Colorado State University.
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