CSUN Northridge Singers
Romancero Gitano with faculty guest artist Dr. Bryan Fasola
Katherine Ramos Baker, conductor Jahyeong Koo, accompanist
December 10, 2022 7:30 p.m. Plaza del Sol, University Student Union
I: Guitar solo music from Spain, Dr. Fasola
Mallorca, Op. 202 Isaac Albeniz (1860-1909)
II: Songs and Arias in Spanish: sung by soloists from Northridge Singers
" Mi Aldea" from Los Galvilanes
J. Guerrero Jacob Alvarez-Ruiz
Juan Gabriel Sophia Paz Lo raso y el Sauce Carlos Gustavino
Amor Eterno
Leilah Telon
III: Selections from Romancero Gitano (Gypsy Life)
Poetry from works by Frederico Garcia Lorca; Music by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Guest faculty artist: Dr. Bryan Fasola, guitar Translation courtesy of Dr. John Ballerino
V: Procesión (Procession)
Jacob Alvarez-Ruiz, soloist
Through the street come strange unicorns. From what field, from what mythological wood? Closer, they seem like astronomers. Fantastic Merlins, and the Ecce Homo (Jesus wearing the crown of thorns) The enchanted Durandarte, the furious Orlando.
(2), Paso (Float –in a procession)
Virgin in crinoline, Virgin of solitude, open like an immense tulip In your boat of light you go upon the high tide of the city, Between turbid saetas and crystal stars. Virgin in crinoline, you go through the river of the street to the sear!
(3). Saeta (Solo song of penitence)
The dark Christ passes from the lily of Judea to the carnation of Spain. Behold from where he comes!
From Spain. Sky clear and dark, scorched earth, and gullies where runs very slowly the water.
The dark Christ, with burned locks of hair, protruding cheekbones and blank eyes. Behold where he goes!
VI. Memento (Memeto)
When I die, bury me with my guitar under the sand. When I die, under the orange trees and the mint. When I die, bury me, if you wish, in a thin shroud.
VI. Baile (Dance)
Solo I: Rolando Corona and Michael Cooper
Solo II: James Kerrigan
Carmen is dancing through the streets of Seville. She has white hair and shining eyes.
Children, draw the curtains!
In her head is coiled a yellow serpent, And she goes dreaming in her dance with lovers of other days.
Children, draw the curtains!
VII. Crótalo (Castanet also rattlesnake)
Castanet, sonorous scarab. In the spider of the hand you ruffle the warm air, And extinguish yourself on your trill of wood. Castanet, sonorous scarab.
Thank you for your support of the CSUN Northridge Singers!
CSUN Northridge Singers
Jacob Alvarez-Ruiz
Sophia Bakaev Lily Berthold Amber Buenaventura* Egan Carroll* Michael Cooper Rolando Corona Garrett Cypher Jonathan Engstrom* Valeria Fajardo
Cassiddy Feskowitz Gabriel Granillo Ruby Herrera Xiaoshan Huang James Kerrigan* Yan Liang Madison McCurdy* Halie Milligan* Ayida Mkrtychyan Alicia Morgan*
Matt Morton Sophia Paz Emilio Pozo* Destiny Ramos Eddie Tavalin Roberts Diego Schwarzbach Rachel Spiegel-Brown Leilah Telon John Thompson Jeryd Word
* section leaders
About the CSUN Northridge Singers
The CSUN Northridge Singers is a select ensemble, open to all university students who meet the audition requirements. Northridge Singers is known for its standards of excellence, its commissions of special works for performance, touring internationally, and garnering several prestigious performance awards. Northridge Singers usually presents four live concerts each academic year, participates in at least one collegiate choral festival, and often hosts a high school or junior college choral festival. During the pandemic lockdown, there were several changes due to the coronavirus: Zoom rehearsals, for large group and small group; the use of collaborative media tools for peer and instructor review of individual recordings; and virtual choir audio and video recordings mastered by Soundhouse, a professional musical educational tech company. Northridge Singers is featured twice on their page: https://edtech.ccsoundhouse.com/recent-projects
In Spring 2021 there was a virtual choral concert shared with University Chorus, with a final work that included both choirs. In Spring 2022 Northridge Singers and University Chorus had a live shared concert that featured choral music from the movies and musicals. November 19, 2022, 7:30 p.m., in the Plaza del Sol, we will share another concert with the University Chorus, CSUN Symphony, and featured student soloists for Mozart’s Requiem In tonight’s concert, Northridge Singers presents a concert of Spanish music: Romancero Gitano (Gypsy Life) by
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, featuring CSUN faculty guest guitarist Dr. Bryan Fasola. This surrealistic poetry celebrates deep feeling as well as everyday life.
Thank you for being here this evening to enjoy this concert of music in Spanish, and we hope to see you next year at our upcoming concerts!
About our guest faculty artist
Bryan Fasola grew up in Los Angeles. As a young adult, he composed and published music through BMI that has been used by television shows around the world. After receiving his Performing Arts Diploma under Hubert Kaeppel Germany, he returned to Los Angeles in 2007 to take a position as an adjunct professor at California State University, Northridge while completing the Doctorate of Musical Arts degree at USC. As a teacher, Dr. Fasola strives to promote creativity and intrinsic motivation in his students. Bryan has adjudicated numerous local programs and guitar competitions. In his solo performances, Bryan has entertained audiences at numerous universities and arts societies around the United States and Europe, as well as radio stations such as KUSC 91.5 in Los Angeles and was featured on “Inside the Classical Guitar” RAF 107.3 in St. Louis. Bryan’s classical guitar project, LADuo, focuses on developing new music for the genre and has performed as soloists at recent music festivals such as The Cabrillo Festival with conductor Marin Alsop, and the Southern Guitar Festival in South Carolina. Dr. Fasola currently teaches at California State University of Northridge, Pierce College and Pasadena Conservatory of Music.
About the conductor Katherine Ramos Baker, Professor, Department of Music, CSU Northridge, earned the Doctor of Education in Music Education degree from the University of Illinois, the Master of Music in Choral Conducting degree from CSU Fullerton and holds a Life Teaching Credential in Music from the State of California.
Dr. Baker has an array of professional experience teaching in higher education, high school, and middle school. Prior to coming to CSU Northridge, she was Director of Choral Activities at Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho, where she was received the “Excellence in Teaching” award for the School of Arts and Sciences, 1996. Her choirs have performed internationally in the Benedictinus 2000 Festival in Rome and the Innsbruck International Choral Festival in Austria. Her CSU Northridge Women’s Chorale performed in 2007 and 2011 at universities and cultural centers in Beijing, Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Shanghai. She has been a board member of CSU Northridge’s China Institute and its International Education Committee, working groups dealing with educational international issues and agreements among various institutions of higher education. In August 2010, Dr. Baker made presentations at the International Society for Music Education’s conference held in Beijing, and then presented lectures and workshops to teachers and graduate students in Shanghai. During her sabbatical in spring 2012, she was a guest scholar at six universities in Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai, and Wuhan. In October 2018 she was a featured guest panelist and one of the six keynote speakers for the First International Seminar on Evaluations Systems for Primary and Secondary Music Education, Shanghai, China. She has received two awards for her contributions to international education: The China Institute Outstanding Contributions Award (2012) and the Phi Beta Delta Outstanding Faculty Award (2011).
While at CSU Northridge, her work has continued in conducting/performing, music education and music technology, and assessment. The CSU Northridge’s Women's Chorale, under her direction, premiered works by California composers at CMEA conference, performed Holst's The Planets with the San Fernando Valley Symphony and the CSUN Symphony Orchestra, recorded music for the documentary film, That All May Be One, and has performed on two tours of China (2007 and 2011). Dr. Baker also has served as an adjudicator/clinician and as an honor choir conductor for state and regional ACDA, MENC, and SCVA festivals, as well as “Music in the Parks” festivals and “Festivals at Sea.” In October 2010 she presented workshops on and a solo recital of the music of Hildegard von Bingen for the Monastery of St. Gertrude in Cottonwood, Idaho.
Her work in technology includes participation in federal and state technology programs, webenhanced and distance learning courses, presentations at national MENC conventions, and the publication of interactive multimedia software for Bach's Magnificat, Vivaldi's Gloria, and Mozart’s Requiem by Educational Courseware Systems.
Her experience in assessment in music includes: presentations for AssessNet consortium, for CMEA, IUPUI, and at the International Society for Music Education (in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Beijing, China). She is currently the Assessment Liaison for the Music Department and has been a member of the CSUN eLearning Community, collaborating with other faculty in the department on improving student achievement. She was the primary author of the CSUN Music Subject Matter Waiver Program document and was also a Field Reviewer of the Draft Standards for Programs in Music for the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
About the accompanist
Jahyeong Koo is a staff accompanist for the California State University, Northridge. Ms. Koo is a member of the LA Trio, as well as the founder of the Valley Philharmonic Orchestra. Originally a graduate of the Sun-Hwa Performing Arts School in Seoul, Korea, Ms. Koo received B.M. and M.M. Degrees from the University of Northern Iowa in piano performance, along with an enrollment as a doctoral candidate at USC with an Accompanying Assistantship. Ms. Koo has won numerous piano competitions and awards both as a solo artist and as an accompanist throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Having been invited to perform with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra in Russia and the Razgrad Philharmonic Orchestra in Bulgaria, Ms. Koo also performed with the LA TRIO and taught Master Classes in China, as well as performing for the International Clarinet Festival in Japan and serving as resident accompanist for the International Clarinet and Saxophone Festival in Beijing, China. California State University, Los Angeles, Adjunct Professor of Music from 2004-2009, Ms. Koo is a member of the MTNA and SYMF, and currently accompanies the Pasadena City College Opera Workshop, Los Angeles Children Chorus, and the Youth Choirs at All Saints Church in Pasadena.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to:
Jahyeong Koo, our wonderful accompanist, for all her work throughout the semester and her flexibility and support of the University Chorus, the Northridge Singers, and the vocal area.
Alec Van Wagner, my student assistant, for his ability to remain calm while trying to read my mind.
The Northridge Singers’ Section Leaders, for their time and work to make rehearsals and performances extra special.
The Voice Faculty: Dr. Hugo Vera, Professor Shigemi Matsumoto, Professor Diane Ketchie, Professor Erika Davis, and Dr. Joshua Wentz, for their support of Northridge Singers and the entire vocal area.
Dr. John Ballerino, UC Santa Barbara, for coaching our Lyric Spanish diction, and for providing a translation of the work.
The VPAC and Plaza del Sol administration, Carey Christensen, and Beto Sistos and his stage crew, and Shawn Kolb and his stage crew, for their work on this concert.
Phil Calvert, Recording Engineer, for his recording of all of our concerts.
Nicole Hovland, Dasnita Singa, Vanessa Jimenez, and Tommie Norris, music department staff persons, for supporting us through our preparation process.
Professor Andrew Surmani, Music Industry Administration, and Professor Jeffrey Izzo, Music Industry Studies, for their support and their areas’ financial support of the matadormusicvideos.com site that provides live streaming of concerts as well as concerts on demand.
Vice-President Diane Stephens, AS Executive Director Patrick Bailey, and the members of the Instructionally-Related Activities Board, for their continuing support of the University Chorus and Northridge Singers.
Dean Dan Hosken, Associate Dean Kandace Harris, and Department Chair John Roscigno, for their support of our music program.