Imani Winds-WI Union

Great History, Bright Future

Imani Winds West Meets East Friday, September 28, 2012 8 pm

www.uniontheater.wisc.edu 608-265-ARTS 800 Langdon St., Madison, WI 53706 Imani Winds: West Meets East

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Presented by the Wisconsin Union Directorate Performing Arts Committee, directed this year by Ben Ferris, and supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts. Other sponsors include the Wisconsin Union Theater Endowment Fund, Wisconsin Public Radio, and WORT, 89.9 FM.

UW-Madison students: to join the Wisconsin Union Directorate Theater Committee and help program our upcoming events, please contact Ben Ferris at ferrisferrisferris@gmail.com.

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Wisconsin Union Theater

PROGR A M West Meets East Startin’ Sumthing.................................................................................................................................................Jeff SCOTT Cane..................................................................................................................................................................Jason MORAN Togo to Natchitoches Coin Coin’s narrative Gens libre de coleur Natchitoches to New York Suite: Portraits of Josephine Baker..................................................................................................Valerie COLEMAN St. Louis 1920 Les Milandes Paris 1925 Thank you Josephine INTERMISSION Tzigane......................................................................................................................................................Valerie COLEMAN The Rite of Spring................................................................................................................................... Igor STRAVINSKY

Arr. Jonathan RUSSELL Klezmer Dances........................................................................................................................ Trad arr. Gene KAVADLO Kolomeyke.

Frelekh Recordings: ...........................................................................................................................Koch International Classics

ABOUT THE MUSIC

By Rose Marie Gear The artists will provide notes from stage for Startin’ Sumthing and Tzigane.

Tonight’s program explores the connections between Western classical music and European and American musical traditions. Here we have Western classical music blended with diverse non-classical styles including Louisiana jazz, 1920s-era swing, Klezmer, gypsy, and the primitive neo-pagan rhythms of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. But if ‘West’ is shorthand for Western classical music, what is ‘East?’

What makes music distinctly classical or nonclassical? Perhaps it is the manner in which the music is presented to audiences, using performance conventions familiar to classical music aficionados. Or, does it have more to do with the manner in which the music is performed, whether the music is played ‘straight’ with little personal character or swung freely to the whim of the performer?

Jazz pianist and composer Jason Moran wrote Cane especially for the Imani Winds, who debuted the work in 2008. This programmatic piece, set in four movements, depicts the sights and sounds of the Cane River in Louisiana. The Cane River runs through Natchitoches Parish where the composer’s ancestor, ex-slave Marie Coincoin, is fabled to have established a colony of creoles in the 1700s. The composer drew additional inspiration from Jean Toomer’s 1923 novel, Cane, which consists of a series of vignettes exploring folk culture, urban life, and racial conflict in the south.

Imani Winds: West Meets East

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ABOUT THE MUSIC

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“Earth is a waxen cell of the world comb, And I, a drone, Lying on my back, Lipping honey, Getting drunk with silver honey, Wish that I might fly out past the moon And curl forever in some far-off farmyard flower.”

~Jean Toomer’s Cane

Mixed in with programmatic depictions of the Louisiana bayou are the composer’s ruminations on lineage, history, and the role of stereotypes in the individual’s creative process. Moran writes that “as a jazz musician, interfacing with stereotypes and expectations is important...sometimes it’s about shunning the stereotype and other times it’s about playing into the stereotype, magnifying it until it’s abstracted.” Cane contains melodic strains of Louisiana jazz and African-American spiritual, at times subtly blended into the musical texture and at times gaining prominence. _________________________________________ Originally scored for wind quintet and percussion, Valerie Coleman’s Portraits of Josephine Baker chronicles the remarkable life story of dancer, chanteuse, humanitarian, and WWII resistance fighter Josephine Baker. Born in Saint Louis in 1906, Josephine Baker vowed to transcend her bleak situation after witnessing the bloodshed of the 1917 East Saint Louis race riots. She auditioned as a dancer for a traveling theater troupe and eventually traveled to New York, where she performed on Broadway.

Following her modest success as the star of a chorus line, Baker was invited to perform in Paris, where she quickly shot to stardom and a life of extravagant wealth.

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Wisconsin Union Theater

ABOUT THE MUSIC

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Josephine Baker’s incredible story did not stop there. During World War II Baker served as an undercover operative for the French forces. She transmitted confidential information during her performance tours, performed for the troops, and aided war refugees. Following World War II, Baker traveled around the world speaking as a civil rights activist. Along with her husband, bandleader Jo Bouillon, Baker adopted 12 children of different races, which she termed her “rainbow tribe.”

The first movement, St. Louis 1920, describes Josephine Baker’s youth in Saint Louis. Les Milandes is titled after the chateau in the South of France where Baker and her “rainbow tribe” lived for many years.

Paris 1925 captures Baker’s initial rise to stardom in Paris, and quotes the jaunty rhythms characteristic of the Charleston, which she danced. The final movement, Thank You Josephine, presents an arrangement of Josephine Baker’s most famous song J’ai Deux Amours or I Have Two Loves: “I have two loves My country and Paris Paris forever That’s my pretty dream”

~Josephine Baker, I Have Two Loves _________________________________________

When the ballet The Rite of Spring debuted in Paris in 1913, the work famously caused a riot. The ballet, choreographed by Nijinsky and scored by Igor Stravinsky, portrays a pagan ritual wherein a group of elders seated in a circle watch a young girl dance herself to death as a sacrifice to the god of spring. With its dissonant harmonies and barbaric rhythms, the score to The Rite of Spring pushed the borders of what was considered classical music at the time. This difficult piece features rhythms that Stravinsky himself struggled to play. The music is at times polytonal, meaning that it contains harmonies from two unrelated keys played simultaneously, to somewhat jarring effect.

While Igor Stravinsky’s original ballet score features a full orchestra, the Imani Winds perform an arrangement of the work for woodwind quintet by Jonathan Russell. In addition to limiting the harmonic palette to five voices, Russell significantly shortens the work, trimming Stravinsky’s score to its core essence. The piece opens with a technically demanding solo in the bassoon, played here

by Monica Ellis. One wonders if any of the audience members present for the debut of The Rite of Spring also enjoyed Josephine Baker’s Paris debut a little over a decade later. _________________________________________ Born out of Eastern and Central Europe by Ashkenazic and Hasidic Jews, Klezmer music is now enjoyed around the world for its ecstatic energy and celebratory flair. Traditional Klezmer music is instrumental and features violin, tsimbl (hammer dulcimer), bass, and flute. Traditional Klezmer music is instrumental, and ensembles vary by period and region. A typical group might include violin, tsimbl (hammer dulcimer), cello or bass, and flute or clarinet. For this reason many people often associate the sound of the clarinet with Klezmer music. Klezmer musicians, or klezmorim, learn to improvise ornamentation around any given melody to give it that certain Klezmer flair.

Klezmer Dances, arranged by Gene Kavadlo, includes music for two traditional dances, the Kolomeyke and the Frelekh. The Kolomeyke, named after the Ukranian town of Kolomyja, was popular among Ukrainians. Typically the Kolomeyke was a group circle dance where members split into couples, eventually returning to a circle formation. The Frelekh is a dance frequently performed at Jewish celebrations in which a line of people snakes around a room, and individuals take turns showing off their dance moves in the center of a circle. This pair of dances provides a rousing finale to a stirring and ambitious program by Imani Winds.

Imani Winds: West Meets East

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MADISON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA John DeMain | Music Director

“The Jascha Heifetz of our day” — The Globe & Mail, Toronto

BERLIOZ Overture to Beatrice and Benedict BARTÓK Violin Concerto No. 2 BRAHMS Symphony No. 4

OCT 12

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JOHN DEMAIN CONDUCTOR JAMES EHNES VIOLIN SPONSORS:

STEINHAUER CHARITABLE TRUST KENNETH A. LATTMAN FOUNDATION, INC.

Madison’s own rising stars, CHRISTINA & MICHELLE NAUGHTON PIANO DUO

“Paired to perfection…” — Philadelphia Inquirer NOV 2

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JOHN DEMAIN CONDUCTOR KODÁLY Dances of Galánta POULENC Concerto for Two Pianos

SCHUBERT

The Great C Major Symphony SPONSORS:

NBC-15 DIANE ENDRES BALLWEG

ON BEHALF OF ENDRES MANUFACTURING CO.

FRED & MARY MOHS

OVERTURE BOX OFFICE:

608.258.4141

ONLINE:

madisonsymphony.org

ABOUT THE ARTISTS IMANI WINDS VALERIE COLEMAN..........................................................................................................................................................flute TOYIN SPELLMAN-DIAZ................................................................................................................................................oboe MARIAM ADAM..........................................................................................................................................................clarinet JEFF SCOT.............................................................................................................................................................french horn MONICA ELLIS........................................................................................................................................................... bassoon More than North America’s premier wind quintet, Imani Winds has established itself as one of the most successful chamber music ensembles in the United States. Since 1997, the Grammy nominated quintet has taken a unique path, carving out a distinct presence in the classical music world with its dynamic playing, culturally poignant programming, genre-blurring collaborations, and inspirational outreach programs. With two member composers and a deep commitment to commissioning new work, the group is enriching the traditional wind quintet repertoire while meaningfully bridging European, American, African and Latin American traditions.

Imani Winds’ extensive touring schedule has brought them to most of this country’s major concert venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Disney Hall and Kimmel Center. The group is frequently engaged by the premier chamber music series in Boston, San Francisco, Portland, Philadelphia and New York, and have also played virtually every major university performing arts series including those in Amherst, Ann Arbor, Austin, Seattle, Stanford, Urbana and countless others.

Festivals include Chamber Music Northwest, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, La Jolla Music Society, Virginia Arts Festival, Bravo! Colorado and Ravinia Festival. The current season features several international tours for Imani Winds, with debut appearances in France, China, and Brazil.

The group continues its Legacy Commissioning Project, in which the ensemble is commissioning, premiering and touring new works for woodwind quintet written by established and emerging composers of diverse musical backgrounds. The select composers originate from different points of the globe bringing a wide range of sounds and experiences. The Legacy Project kicked off in 2008 with world premieres by Alvin Singleton and Roberto Sierra. Since then, projects have included works by Jason Moran, Stefon Harris, Danilo Perez, Simon Shaheen. The group’s fifth album on E1 Music – entitled Terra Incognita after Wayne Shorter’s piece written for the group – is a celebration of the Legacy project with new works written for Imani Winds by Mr. Shorter, Jason Moran, and Paquito D’Rivera.

Turtle Island Quartet Have You Ever Been?

The wide range of programs offered by Imani Winds demonstrates their mission to expand the repertoire and diversify new music sources. From Mendelssohn, Jean Françaix, György Ligeti, and Luciano Berio, to Astor Piazzolla, Elliott Carter and John Harbison; and to the unexpected ranks of Paquito D’Rivera and Wayne Shorter, Imani Winds actively seek to engage new music and new voices into the modern classical idiom.

Imani members Valerie Coleman and Jeff Scott both regularly contribute compositions and arrangements to the ensemble’s expanding repertoire, bringing new sounds and textures to the traditional instrumentation.

Performing the music of Jimi Hendrix This is not your papa’s starched string quartet program, TIQ has a definite Wow factor!

Monday, October 15 - 7:30 pm

TICKETS 262-472-2222

www.uww.edu/youngauditorium

930 W Main St- UW-Whitewater Campus Imani Winds: West Meets East

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS

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Through commissions and performance the quintet regularly collaborates with artists ranging from Yo-Yo Ma to Wayne Shorter. Shorter’s Terra Incognita – his first-ever composition for another ensemble – was premiered by Imani Winds. The group went on to perform extensively with Shorter at major European festivals such as the North Sea Jazz Festival, and in North America at venues such as Carnegie and Disney halls. The group’s Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center residency culminated in a recital in New York’s Alice Tully Hall with renowned clarinetist/saxophonist/composer Paquito D’Rivera. The ensemble has also worked with luminaries such as bandoneonist Daniel Binelli, the Brubeck brothers, clarinetist David Shifrin, and pianists Gilbert Kalish and Shai Wosner. Their ambitious project, “Josephine Baker: A Life of Le Jazz Hot!” brought chanteuse René Marie with them to New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and St. Louis, receiving wide acclaim and glowing reviews.

Imani Winds enjoy frequent national exposure in all forms of media, including two features on NPR’s All Things Considered, appearances on APM’s Saint Paul Sunday, NPR’s Performance Today and News and Notes with Ed Gordon, BBC/PRI’s The World, as well as frequent coverage in major music magazines and newspapers including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

Their excellence and influences have been recognized with numerous awards including the 2007 ASCAP Award, 2002 CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, as well as the CMA/WQXR Award for their debut and self-released recording Umoja. At the 2001 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, Imani Winds was selected as the first-ever Educational Residency Ensemble, in recognition of their tremendous musical abilities and innovative programming.

Imani Winds’ commitment to education runs deep. The group participates in residencies throughout the U.S., giving master classes to thousands of students a year. In the summer of 2010, the ensemble launched its annual Chamber Music Festival. The program, set on the Juilliard campus, brings together young instrumentalists from across North America and beyond for an intense week of music exploration.

Imani Winds have five releases on E1 Music, including their 2006 Grammy Award nominated recording entitled The Classical Underground.

Coming Soon to the Wisconsin Union Theater Autumn Across America with Don and Fran Van Polen Monday & Tuesday, October 1 & 2, 2012, 7:30pm, The Marquee at Union South Tia Fuller Jazz saxophonist and composer Friday, October 12, 2012, 8pm, The Sett. Free!

Keyboard Conversations® with Jeffrey Siegel Spellbinding Bach Tuesday, October 16, 2012, 7:30pm, Mills Hall Grupo Fantasma Grammy-winning mix of funk, mambo, merengue, and cumbia Friday, November 2, 2012, 8pm, The Sett 8

Wisconsin Union Theater