University Concert Band
Chandler L. Wilson, Director
Sunday, November 20, 2022 6:00 p.m. | Opperman Music Hall
Ashley Deane & Andy Dubbert, Graduate Conducting AssociatesFanfare for the Common Man
PROGRAM
Aaron Copeland (b. 1900)
Journey through Orion Julie Giroux (b. 1961)
Redwood Ryan George (b. 1989)
Ashley Deane, conductor
Xerxes John Mackey (b. 1973)
INTERMISSION
Nimbus 2000 John Williams (b. 1932)
Beyond the Horizon Rossano Galante (b. 1967)
Andy Dubbert, conductor
Mutagenesis
Kyle W. Brown (b. 1995)
Euphoria John Frantzen (b. 1964)
The Planets Gustav Holst I. Mars (1874–1934)
To Ensure An Enjoyable Concert Experience For All…
Please refrain from talking, entering, or exiting during performances. Food and drink are prohibited in all concert halls. Recording or broadcasting of the concert by any means, including the use of digital cameras, cell phones, or other devices is expressly forbidden. Please deactivate all portable electronic devices including watches, cell phones, pagers, hand-held gaming devices or other electronic equipment that may distract the audience or performers.
Recording Notice: This performance may be recorded. Please note that members of the audience may at times be included in this process. By attending this performance you consent to have your image or likeness appear in any live or recorded video or other transmission or reproduction made in conjunction to the performance.
Health Reminder: The Florida Board of Governors and Florida State University expect masks to be worn by all individuals in all FSU facilities.
Florida State University provides accommodations for persons with disabilities. Please notify the College of Music at (850) 644-3424 at least five working days prior to a musical event to request accommodation for disability or alternative program format.
NOTES ON THE PROGRAM
Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man
Aaron Copland was born on November 14, 1900 in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up living above his parent’s shop, H. M. Copland’s, with his parents and his five older siblings. Copland’s father did not have a musical background, but his mother played piano and sang. She was the one who made sure that all of her children had music lessons growing up. This and his exposure to music at Jewish weddings throughout his childhood started Copland on the path to becoming a composer. He began writing music at 8 1/2 and at age 15 he decided to become a composer. He attempted to continue his studies through a correspondence course, and then began formal lessons in theory, harmony and composition with Rubin Goldmark. After finishing his lessons with Goldmark, he went on to study in Paris at the Fontainebleau School of Music. He felt this experience was not different enough from his studies with Goldmark, so, after hearing a fellow student suggest studying with Nadia Boulanger, he made the switch. At the age of 25 he returned to America with the goal of being a full-time composer. During this time he won many awards, including the Guggenheim Fellowship. The financial aspect to these awards helped support the young composer along with teaching, writing, small commissions, and some personal loans throughout his 20s and through World War II.
In 1942 the Cincinnati’s Symphonic Orchestra commissioned multiple composers to compose fanfares to open the concerts during their upcoming concert season. The leader of the orchestra, Eugene Goossens, hoped the commissions would recreate the success he’d had doing a similar project in England during the First World War. A total of 18 pieces were selected, with Fanfare for the Common Man, amongst them. Copland’s piece stood out from the others because of its dedication to the everyday person who shared in the triumphs and woes of those gone to war while still having to maintain their day-to-day lives. Fanfare for the Common Man is written for only brass and percussion and uses soaring harmonies and unison passages to embody the “American Sound.” It is one of the only pieces from the original 18 that is still played with frequency today.
Giroux: Journey Through Orion
Julie Ann Giroux was born in Fairhaven, Massachusetts on December 12, 1961. She studied at Louisiana State University and Boston University. Giroux also studied privately with John Williams, Bill Conti and Jerry Goldsmith. She composes for a variety of ensembles including orchestras, choirs, chamber ensembles, and wind band. She has also written music for movies such as White Men Can’t Jump, as well as arranging music for famous musicians such as Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Reba McIntyre. She has been nominated for 3 Emmy awards, and in 1992 won an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement In Music Direction.
Journey Through Orion was commissioned by the Association of Concert Bands for their national conference in 2006. Giroux writes about her piece: Photographs from the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, simply put, are out of this world. Pictures of the Great Orion Nebula, Barnard’s Loop, M78, M43, the Molecular Clouds 1 & 2 (OMC-1, OMC-2) and The Horsehead Nebula never cease to capture my imagination. I have journeyed there many times in my mind, so I decided to sketch that journey with notes. Travel with the music 1,500 light years away into the constellation Orion the Hunter, into the Molecular Cloud Complex and through the Great Orion Nebula where Stars and Ideas are born.
George: Redwood
Ryan George was born in 1978. He attended the University of Kentucky where he received his degree in music education. During his time there he served and principal horn of the wind ensemble for four semesters, as well as drum major of the Wildcat Marching Band. He began writing works for concert bands in 2007 and has since had his pieces performed at band conferences world wide. George is also the brass arranger and composer for the Boston Crusaders and the Academy Drum and Bugle Corps. He currently resides in Austin, Texas when not traveling for work.
Redwood was commissioned by Collins Hill High School Band in Suwanee, Georgia to honor their head band director, Richard Marshall, who was retiring at the end of the year. The band said that they wanted to honor Mr. Marshall’s love of music, but also his love for the great outdoors. The composer says that Mr. Marshall’s love for the outdoors reminded him of a time when he was growing up when his family would go camping in Sequoia National Park. The composer says this of those memories:
…we would set up our tents among the giant redwood trees that grow in that region of California. These trees command attention with their immense stature, their size the result of years gone by and storms weathered. And yet they exude a peaceful and subtle tranquility. This idea of “Powerful Tranquility” became the cornerstone upon which this lyrical tone poem was created.
Mackey: Xerxes
John Mackey (he/him) is a well known composer from Westerville Ohio. He attended The Cleveland Institute of Music where he received the Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree in 1995 and then went on to receive the Master of Music degree from the world-renowned Juilliard School. Mackey chose to apply to Juilliard specifically because the school did not require an instrumental audition for students wishing to study composition, and he did not formally study an instrument. His non-traditional beginning continued into his early career with his first professional composing jobs coming from dance companies. In 2003 Mackey was commissioned to arrange his orchestral work Redline Tango for concert band. He reluctantly did so and the success from this version of Redline Tango propelled him into the band world where his pieces are played by high school, college, and professional wind ensembles thousands of times a year. He currently lives in San Francisco with his spouse, who creates the titles for his works, and their two cats Noodle and Bloop.
This piece’s title refers to one of the more tyrannical Kings of Persia, Xerxes the Great. Xerxes was most well known for his invasion of Athens where he torched the city to the ground. Mackey wanted to incorporate the violence of this story into a piece that still follows the traditional structure of a military march. In doing this Mackey wrote what he calls an “anti-march,” twisting the usually patriotic nature of most marches into an angry and intense experience.
Williams: Nimbus 2000
For the past sixty years, John Williams has gifted us with iconic, memorable, and recognizable themes that have literally and figuratively set the stage for memorable moments. After completing degrees in piano performance and composition at the University of California and the Julliard School, Williams began his film score career with Steven Spielberg. Williams served as the Principal Conductor with the Boston Pops from 1980 to 1993 and continues as their laureate conductor. While his accolades would take several sheets of paper, he has five Academy Awards, four Golden Globes, seven BAFTA Awards, and 21 Grammy Awards.
This setting of Nimbus 2000 comes from the film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, based on the book by J.K. Rowling. Originally arranged for the woodwind choir, our own Dr. Chandler L. Wilson adapted this arrangement to include the saxophone family. The Nimbus 2000 is the name of the brand-new broom used by the elite Quidditch players in the Harry Potter book. This arrangement captures the excitement of high-speed flying by its quick tempo and fast scalar patterns throughout all the instruments. Equally challenging for all the performers, this arrangement serves as a fantastic opportunity to feature talented woodwind musicians.
Galante: Beyond the Horizon
Rossano Galante attended the State University of New York where he received the Bachelor of Arts Degree in trumpet performance, then attended the University of Southern California’s Film Score Program. He now resides in California and continues to work with prolific composers while actively composing and orchestrating. Galante has orchestrated over 60 studio films, and continues to be commissioned for various Wind Ensemble repertoire.
Intended to depict a breathtaking horizon, Galante prominently establishes two main themes recurring throughout the work. The first theme is immediately established in the first measure by the French horns, and the second theme is presented by the flutes and oboes shortly thereafter. In the spirit of musically capturing a perfect horizon, Galante cleverly utilized the intervals of a perfect fourth and perfect fifth throughout the melodic construction. The cinematic composition allows for the minds eye to run wild and paint a beautiful picture in the imagination of the listener.
Brown: Mutagenesis
Kyle Brown is a brilliant young composer who received the Bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina, the Master’s degree from the University of South Florida, and is completing a Doctoral degree at Florida State University. Brown’s composition Mutagenesis won the 2018-2019 USF Bands Composition contest and was premiered on April 18, 2019 by the USF Symphonic Band.
The composer writes this about Mutagenesis:
The science of mutagenesis was developed by Hermann Muller, Charlotte Auerbach, and J. M. Robson in the early 20th century. Mutagenesis is the process of mutation, meaning the altering of the genetic information of an organism. This process can occur naturally or artificially and spontaneously or as a result of outside stimuli. There are four types of mutations: spontaneous mutations, mutations resulting from replication bypass, mutations caused by DNA repair, and mutations induced from mutagens. A mutation is usually a slight change, that may or may not create discernible difference. Mutation is not inherently bad, but rather simply causes change. In nature, mutation is an insertion or deletion of genetic material, can be normal or abnormal, can lead to cancer and various heritable diseases, but is also a driving force of evolution.
Mutagenesis draws inspiration from this science. This work progresses through slowly transforming melodic cells, or collection of notes. These collections mutate note by note, until the result consists of a completely new group of pitches. The original collection of G, Ab, C, D results in F#, E, B, A#. By swapping one note from these two collections, I gathered 14 permutations that form the structure of the work. A few of these collections can be heard clearly, while some permutations are slightly blurred: some collections bleed into the next group (insertion), some note stops early (deletion), etc. Much like in nature, the mutation of these melodic cells can make a slight musical difference, or launch the music into a completely different direction. In order to create coherence, I use similar motivic elements to ground the listener, but it is a work that can slowly transform or evolve quickly and without preamble.
Frantzen: Euphoria
John Frantzen completed his graduate work at the Manhattan School of Music. Frantzen has become known for his skilled orchestration of electronic and acoustic music, and has produced works for Wind Bands for over two decades. He has been invited to be an artist-in-residence in various locations around the United States. Euphoria was commissioned by the Liverpool High School Bands and was premiered by the Liverpool High School Concert Band on May 31, 2001, conducted by Joseph L. Filio, Jr.
The composer writes this about Euphoria: Euphoria in its development reflects those rare moments where one is totally immersed in the unabashed vibrancy of life. The swirling textures and rhythmic interplay of the score reveal a state of being unencumbered by lingering everyday concerns, a state of embracing the carefree wonder of living, so common in our youth, where all things are possible.
Holst: The Planets: Mars
Gustav Holst began his musical career on piano and then to trombone after experiencing a nerve condition. He attended The Royal College of Music in London and became close friends with composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. Holst spent a notable portion of his career employed by the St. Paul’s Girls School in Hammersmith, West London. During this time, he was influenced by many folk songs and created the St. Paul’s Suite. Later, Holst carried this influence of folk songs forward and created the Second Suite in F. His works continue to be edited, transcribed, orchestrated and arranged to fit various settings.
Mars: The Bringer of War is the first movement of The Planets, originally composed for orchestra between 1914 and 1917. The first complete and public performance of the suite was on November 15, 1920 by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Albert Coates. Mars features a consistent 5/4 meter with a slow build of energy and intensity. While its intention was to signify battle music, its composition predated World War I and was described in 1920 as being the first of its kind to “express such violence and sheer terror.”
Piccolo
Heeso Han
Flute
Talley Powell* Nicki Howard Miranda Frank Jas Fennell-Hawkins Elizabeth Dunsmoor
Oboe
Saylor Smith* Lily Owen Alejandro Lopez English Horn Saylor Smith
Clarinet
Eric Olmsted* Elijah Rowe Regan Gomersall Ryan Tone Tyler Smith Marie Yonts Claire Huggins
University Concert Band Personnel
Chandler L. Wilson, director Ashley Deane and Andy Dubbert, graduate conducting associates
Bassoon Sean Faletti Lyx Teets Bass Clarinet Elizabeth Kennedy
Contrabass Clarinet Marie Yonts
Soprano Saxophone Christian Magar
Alto Saxophone Christian Magar* Riley Nauman Gabriel Ortiz Casey Caulkins Mackenzie Meiers
Tenor Saxophone Arwyn Hill Brianne Yates
Baritone Saxophone Brody Stump
Trumpet
John Bradley* Johnathan Tordi* Joshua Briley Kai Okamoto Grayson Peterson Katherine Hatfield Kye Turner Horn
Clare Ottesen* Ashlie Green* Senanu Simpson Hailey Swanson Sam Rivera Anna Leach Trombone Justus Smith* Samuel Cote Tyler Butler Greg Lambert Tyler Berman Frank Hobbs Grace Smith
Euphonium
Cale Bazley* Yasha Foster Tuba Sam Williams Xavier Gauthier Michael Levanti Alden Cruz Collier McBride Allie Nutting
Percussion
Greg Banaska Brittany Gummerman Anthony Ruffin Joshua Hamburger Raegan O’Rourke Ruth Pierre
Piano Grace Smith Reece Windjack