Faculty Artist Series: Julianna Nickel Feb 2022

DEWBERRY FACULTY ARTIST SERIES Julianna Nickel, flute Eunae Ko Han, piano With: Jaelin Mitchell, voice of the Musicians of Color Society at Mason

Sunday, February 27, 2022 3:00 pm Harris Theatre

PROGRAM

Sonata Lento-Allegro-Tranquillo Presto Calmato Allegro

Yuko Uebayashi (b. 1958)

WISH

Valerie Coleman (b. 1970)

Jaelin Mitchell, reader

Chant du Linos

Andre Jolivet (1905-1974)

PROGRAM NOTES Sonata Program Note by Julianna Nickel

I first saw Ms. Uebayashi at the National Flute Convention in Chicago, and Ms. Buyse was performing this sonata. The large space was packed full of flutists as Ms. Uebayashi appeared to receive the massive applause at the end of the performance. I was struck by her large smile, inviting persona and exuberant energy. I’ll never forget seeing her.

Ms. Uebayashi was born in 1958 and moved to Paris in 1998. Currently, her website lists many unpublished works that one may order from her for flute and flute chamber combinations. I know I’ll be playing more “Yuko Music” (re: Mr. Ferrandis) for years to come.

Words of Leone Buyse, my first professor at the New England Conservatory, regarding Yuko Uebayahsi’s “ Sonata”: “Yuko Uebayahsi is a native of Kyoto who has lived for many years in Paris, where she has been inspired by the artistry of Jean Ferrandis, who is a wonderful soloist (flute), conductor, and pedagogue. She’s written a number of truly special works for the flute: unaccompanied works, works for two flutes and piano and this sonata, which I find is a really extraordinary mixture of French influence and also Japanese sensibility, especially in the truly lovely and reflective third movement.”

WISH Program Note by Valerie Coleman Commentary on Composer by Julianna Nickel WISH is based upon a historical journey called the Middle Passage: the selling, trading, and transporting of enslaved Africans from Africa to the New World, as referenced in the poem of the same title by Fred D’Aguiar.

Because WISH has an abundance of moments that allow both flute and piano to interpret rhythm and melody- as would happen in a djembe drum pattern or in the sound of a soulful wailing voice, the performers are encouraged to lightly relax standard classical phrasings, in favor of an organic interpretation. The different sections are indicated by markings like Defiant or Chaotic, allowing the music to be much more than a tempo or a mood change.

The vision of tall ships begins the musical poem: the pianist uses the sustain pedal to augment the flutist’s tone to create a distant echo effect. A dirge with blues elements follows, becoming more and more insistent eventually transforming into the section marked With Fighting Desperation. Slaves are being herded onto the ships. Whips are cracked and slaves are dragged, pushed, and beaten. This frantic yet soulful accompanied cadenza is a desperate but futile fight to stay on homeland soil. The cadenza finally shrieks into an aggressive rhythmic ostinato in the piano part, reflecting the pride and culture within the many tribes on board.

There is a sense of moving on the water and sailing into the unknown (depicted within the relentless triplets of the Movendo section). Winding Back the Clock calms the pace and fight down into a quieter moment, marked as Defiant. Trafficked individuals occasionally resorted to terminal starvation or suicidal jumps off the ship as the very last thing that could be done to escape captivity and claim their personal sovereignty. In this section, the act of defiance starts with an inner contemplation, awakened, and stiffed up by an ostinato pattern found in the piano Here, there is a growing dialogue between coercion and resistance, depicting the slavers’ attempts to discourage suicide (as suicide represented a loss of profit) and the slaves’ fierce determination to reclaim selfworth.

At the most passionate moment of Defiant, I envision an enslaved woman experiencing a still moment in time, a profound sweetness of looking onto her newborn after giving birth (one note each on both flute and piano). What follows is the section called Still, a hint of what is to come: a precursor to African American spirituals and the blues. The other knows that she is about too loose her child.

The accompanied cadenza that follows continues a fierce struggle. The newborn is ripped out of the mother’s arms and murdered (a common-place occurrence, as babies and toddlers were too labor-intensive to keep aboard the slave ship).

WISH finishes with a section marked With a Fierce Determination to Survive. This ending communicates a dual reflection: 1) a renewed sense of self-preservation, the embrace and healing possibility in a multitude of cultures brought from Africa despite captivity and 2) and echo of D’Aguiar’s poem as it refers to turning the ships around and changing history, thereby avoiding the sound of the whip “to deafen our ears for centuries.” Through repetitive leaps in the flute and driving lower voiced stomps in the piano, the ending shouts the poem’s final line: “No Atlantic Road of bones form people Dumped into the sea to form a wake.”

Valerie Coleman is a unique and special gift to the flute community. In her, we have, not only a very talented GRAMMY- nominated flutist who founded the famous wind quintet, Imani Winds, but a brilliant composter and teacher. Ms. Coleman left Imani Winds in response to the demands on her as a composer and teacher. Her works have been commissioned by The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the National Flute Association, The Library of Congress, and many others. During the 2021-22 season, her works will be featured by the Minnesota Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Sarasota Orchestra, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Vermont Symphony and The Louisville Orchestra.

Currently, Ms. Coleman is Flute and Composition faculty for the Mannes School of Music. For this season, she leads a year-long residency at The Julliard School for the Music Advancement Program. Find much more about Ms. Coleman on her website.

A few years ago, Ms. Coleman was the featured guest artist at the Mid-Atlantic Flute Convention here in NOVA. The convention was my first chance to meet Valerie in person. One of my GMU flute students, Vanessa Nates, performed for her, selected through competition, for the Guest Artist Masterclass.

Chant du Linos Program Notes by Julianna Nickel

Andre Jolivet, a student of Edgard Varese, wrote Chant du Linos in 1944 as a commission for the Conservatoire de Paris’ yearly exam. The winner that year was none other than Jean-Pierre Rampal, the first true modern flute soloist. Jolivet himself was a member of the French army during World War II. One can only imagine the effects a war had on his writing, especially this piece from 1944.

The title means “song of Linus”. Linus, a musician, the son of Gods, and a character in two versions of a Greek tragedy, is sometimes spelled Linos. On full display in this work are the lamentations and ritualist dances of this Greek tragedy.

One hears wailing, cries, laments, and dancing in markedly different sections.

Flutists love this incredibly difficult standard staple of our repertoire, despite the technical and rhythmic challenges, or maybe because of them!

I last performed Chant du Linos as a student at New England Conservatory.

MEET THE ARTISTS Dr. Eunae Ko Han, Term Assistant Professor in Collaborative Piano at Mason, has previously served as an adjunct opera coach and collaborative pianist in vocal studies at George Mason University since 2014. As a new full-time artist faculty member in Collaborative Piano at Mason, Dr. Han focuses on performing and coaching for the vocal and instrumental areas. In addition, she organizes and coaches collaborative piano assignments within the Dewberry School of Music. Dr. Han received her D.M.A. in Collaborative Piano at the University of Maryland at College Park (UMCP), studying under Rita Sloan, who founded and directs the collaborative piano program at the Aspen Music Festival. Her doctoral dissertation was on innovations in French chamber music and melody – through a collaborative pianist’s perspective – exploring the role of piano in accompaniment. Dr. Han also earned her Master of Music degree in Piano Performance from UMCP and her Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from George Mason University. While studying at UMCP, she held positions as the pianist for the University Symphony Orchestra, the accompanist for the Chamber Singers and the Maryland choir, and the pianist coach for the UM Opera Studio. Additionally, Dr. Han received the McCoy Award for Collaborative Pianist and First Place in the Ulrich Competition at UMCP. She also received a rave review from the Washington Post for her performance of Mozart’s opera, The Impresario, at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. As part of the “Songfest” in Malibu, California, under the tutelage of Martin Katz, she premiered pieces by distinguished composers including Jake Haggie and John Harbison. Dr. Han has extensive experience as an accompanist and a chamber musician, performing in numerous concerts and recitals throughout the United States, Korea, China, and Japan. She frequently plays in the U.S. Air Force Chamber Music Series recitals and has traveled abroad to perform with choral, vocal and instrumental chamber groups in Mexico, Thailand, Cuba, Costa Rica, Turkey, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. She actively performs as a collaborative pianist for both vocal and instrumental recitals throughout the Greater Washington Metropolitan area, as well as in New York. In 2017, she founded the Kalos Trio (along with violinist Yoojin Baik and cellist Hyunji Choi) and organized the Benefits Concert for the Homeless at the historic New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, performed Vivaldi’s Four Seasons as part of the Angel’s Concert Series at the Church of Holy City in Washington, DC, and performed Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 2 at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Jaelin N Mitchell, a native of Norfolk, VA, currently double majors in Choral Music Education and Vocal Performance, and minors in African and African-American studies at George Mason University. In addition to his academic excellence, Jaelin serves as the student body representative to the Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music faculty. He has received awards from the Optimist Club of America, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc, Walt Disney, Inc., Urban League of Hampton Roads, NAACP, and the cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Hampton, Newport News, Williamsburg, and James City County.

Julianna Nickel is an active performer, teacher, and freelancer in the Washington, DC area. Ms. Nickel is a lauded, versatile performer on the stage known for her “talent, intelligence, beauty, the will to work and succeed…” She is the Adjunct Professor of Flute at George Mason University and a two-time recipient of Mason’s Distinguished Teacher of the Year (2019, 2017). Ms. Nickel has played chamber recitals in venues across the world including The Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, The National Institute of Health, Stellenbosch University (South Africa), Georgetown University, the Alden Theater, historic Mount Vernon, Salisbury College, and Old Town Hall in Fairfax. Recently, Julianna has enjoyed working with the Boulanger Initiative in performance. Since moving to the DC area, Julianna has performed as a soloist with the American Festival Pops Orchestra, the George Mason University Symphony Orchestra, the George Mason University Wind Ensemble, and the Landon Symphonette. She is regular chamber performer with the “In Your Neighborhood Series” presented by the National Symphony Orchestra each January. Julianna Nickel has an active orchestral career. She performs as a substitute player with Washington National Opera. She is principal flute with the American Festival Pops Orchestra. She has had the honor to perform with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the National Philharmonic, the Florida Orchestra, and the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra. She freelances with multiple regional orchestras in the area. Professor Nickel is the Director of the Mason Community Arts Flute Academy. Ms. Nickel has adjudicated competitions across the United States and has presented multiple masterclasses at National Flute Association and Mid-Atlantic Flute Conventions where she has also been a chamber and solo recitalist. In demand to present and perform for flute events, she has visited many schools including the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s Flute Day, the West Virginia Flute Symposium, the

Richmond Flute Fest, and the Baldwin Wallace Flute Studio. Professor Nickel maintains a large flute studio at George Mason University graduating successful performers, teachers, art administrators, and technology specialists that are employed across the world. Her students have also gone to study for advanced degrees at schools across the world including Eastman, New England Conservatory, Queensland Conservatory, American University, University of Colorado at Boulder, North Texas University, and University of California Los Angeles. In addition to teaching at GMU, she maintains a dynamic studio of adult flutists. Ms. Nickel’s first teaching position was Flute Professor at the University of Evansville, Indiana. She has taught for the summer program at the Kinhaven Music Schools in Weston, Vermont, and the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival in South Africa. Ms. Nickel’s GMU and adult students are highly successful in local and national competitions. Her students have won multiple masterclass spots at National Flute Association Conventions. Many members of her studio have been selected as winners in the Collegiate, the Masterclass Performers, and the Adult Amateur Competition at Mid-Atlantic Flute Fairs. Ms. Nickel’s GMU flutists routinely win the school’s orchestra and wind ensemble concerto competitions. Two students from the Nickel studio were selected as International Scholars in 2017 to travel to Costa Rica as part of Mason collaboration with Mason’s Potomac Arts Academy and Costa Rica’s music system, SINEM. Studio members are among Mason’s most valued students earning scholarships from the school and other organizations. They serve as Mason Music Ambassadors and members of The Musicians of Color Society at Mason. Ms. Nickel’s first full-time position was as Principal flute of the Evansville Philharmonic. She soon moved to Texas to join her husband, she became and Piccoloist with the Durango Music Festival, and Principal Flute with the Plano and Irving Symphonies. Julianna attended the New England Conservatory Music where she received both her Bachelors and Masters of Music. Her teachers were Paula Robison, Leone Buyse, and Fenwick Smith. While a student, she was Principal Flute and Personnel Manager of the Gardner Museum Orchestra, a frequent Principal Flutist with the Vermont Symphony, and second flutist with the Boston Philharmonic. Ms. Nickel was a Tanglewood Fellow. She was a member of the prestigious National Repertory Orchestra and spent two summers with the National Orchestra Institute.

She also spent two summers at the Aspen Music Festival where she was a soloist with the Chamber Orchestra. During the pandemic, Ms. Nickel and her family turned their driveway and neighborhood street into a concert venue that resulted in seven concerts with colleagues and young musicians, including the Mason flute studio. The Nickel family also performed for the first of 53 National Symphony Orchestra live, online broadcasts of the“NSO at Home”. She also completed other concert streaming projects with several other organizations and produced in-person flute choir projects with the GMU flute studio during 2020-2021. Ms. Nickel grew up in Austin, TX. As a high schooler, she soloed with the San Antonio

Symphony and the Central Texas Orchestra. Julianna is married to James Nickel, a French Horn player with the National Symphony Orchestra, and is the proud mom of Kathryn and Jonathan. Kathryn is a senior in high school, pursuing all things related to her musical theater dreams. Jonathan loves the piano, competitive swimming, and all things computer related.

This recital is also a celebration of Professor Julianna Nickel’s successful DBS for focal hand dystonia

Thanks to the team at the National Institute of Health, especially Dr. Debra Ehrlich, an electrode placed in the thalamus of my brain, currently allows me to play the flute.

Here is the first blog entry on Julianna’s website, julinickel.com, dated May 2018, a month before her DBS surgery took place:

I have wanted brain surgery for a long time…and I’m going to get it!

I am a professional flutist, wife, and mom of two kids, but my music career was in the ultimate jeopardy in 2003. Everyone in my life knows that I teach and perform as flutist, but I’ve also been living with what any musician considers a terrible neurological condition. Most people do not know I have this condition because the music world is not a place where one advertises the disability.

Now, I’m at a crossroads in my career as flutist because of a clinical trial at the National Institute of Health, and I’m going to take this opportunity to “out” myself. Why? I hope my journey during the past 15 years, and going forward, helps other musicians and anyone else who suffers with this condition. I feel comfortable looking back at my journey now. I hope to use this blog to chronicle different time periods in my life: 1) the onset of focal dystonia 2) the months not knowing what was happening 3) getting diagnosed 4) receiving treatment of Botox 5) living and working with Botox treatments, 6) this brain surgery, and 7) life post-surgery. Will the surgery work? That will not be known for a while after the actual surgery.

Focal dystonia. I first heard those two words from the maker of my then-new flute, Lilian Burkart. Suddenly, my left hand would not move on the keys of my flute and, for some reason I called her flute company. I am not one to sit around when something happens. What was happening to me wasn’t making any sense.

Since the flute was a recent purchase, I wondered if there was a correlation.

Lilian, after hearing me explain what was happening, mentioned that I should look into focal dystonia. She didn’t tell me what it was, and I didn’t ask, but I did

feel a sense of foreboding. I’m not sure when I started researching dystonia after that phone call, but it wasn’t long knowing me. It probably was later that day. I know that what I read online scared me to death. From what I read, focal dystonia ended the career of musicians.

Fast forward to 2005, and I had started having Botox treatments on my left arm for dystonia and actually began working again as a musician. The road from April 2003 back to working musician was very long, complex, and exhausting. It’s still complex and exhausting. I beat the odds, but the treatment is not perfect. I’ve considered quitting the flute many, many times. I’ve cried a lot, in private mostly.

I know I’ve been so very lucky in many senses, but there are the days when I want to throw the flute out of the nearest window. Sometimes I wished, and still wish, I had just quit the minute I was diagnosed. So many musicians with focal dystonia never get to what I’ve done since my diagnosis, but nothing is the ever same with my dystonic hand. Botox is not a perfect fix for focal dystonia, but it was my best option.

Back to the brain surgery part of this 15-year saga. During Winter 2017, my friend from high school, Brian Fojtasek, one of the kindest people I know, met my family for dinner. Brian remembered my dystonia and mentioned a study he heard about for Parkinson’s at John Hopkins. Brian recalled that I had told him the conditions and wondered if something might be out there for me. I don’t leave stones unturned as I mentioned before, so I stared my google search.

Unbelievably, I found a clinical trial at the National Institute of Health for musicians with focal dystonia in one hand. I fit the exact description! The NIH is 45 minutes from my house. ME! ME! ME! I emailed the study immediately.

I always joked with my doctors about having brain surgery to cure my hand, but they always laughed it off, of course. Now, suddenly, this study was exactly what I’d always hoped might be possible happen someday. It’s ironic that before I received Botox, and I couldn’t play the flute for almost two years, that I just wanted to be able to play this flute in some capacity. After the Botox treatment worked (mostly), I wanted more. I wanted to be able to play like me, and not be hindered by my left hand. I would hear my students play passages or note combinations that I simply could not play. I would go to a concert and know that I could never win an audition for a full-time orchestra job. My heart broke so many times. This surgery might be my shot at having some part of my career be better than it has for the past 15 years.

Read more about Julianna’s journey at www.julinickel.com/blog

DEWBERRY SCHOOL OF MUSIC SPRING 2022 FACULTY ARTIST SERIES Sunday, February 13 3:00 PM Christopher Jewell, bassoon Emily Foster, oboe

Sunday, February 27 3:00 PM Julianna Nickel, flute Eunae Ko Han, piano

Sunday, February 20 3:00 PM Kathleen Mulcahy, clarinet Sophia Kim Cook, piano

Sunday, March 6 3:00 PM Glenn Smith, composition

Sunday, February 20 7:00 PM Brass Faculty

Sunday, March 6 7:00 PM Anna Balakerskaia, piano & Friends

See the full listing of the Dewberry School of Music’s wonderful faculty at music.gmu.edu/faculty-staff/

Free tickets available at music.gmu.edu

George Mason University School of Music For more information and a complete listing of concerts and recitals, visit the web site at music.gmu.edu George Mason University is a registered All-Steinway School