May 2019 Newsletter

Immaculata University Music Department Newsletter May 2019 Editor: Taylor Stroup

Table of Contents Music Education Club Update‌2 Music Therapy Club Update‌2 Senior Recital Recognition ..... 2 Ensembles Concert .................. 3 Immaculata Symphony ............ 4 Immaculata Chorale ................. 5 Immaculata Concert Band ....... 6 The Curtis Symphony .............. 7

On Tuesday April 30th, Madison McGrogan, sophomore music education major, was recognized as the RACAPA Staff Member of the year at the Student Leadership Awards. She is pictured here with Jared Viz, a member of the chorale, and Julia Coppa, a music minor.

Congratulations to all three music students!

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Music Therapy Club As the semester comes to a close, the music therapy club would like to acknowledge our graduating seniors. The 2019 music therapy seniors are: Marilyn Benvenuto, Allysa Carilla, Sierra Goss, Katherine Hernandez, Brandon Percak, Taylor Stroup, Naomi Thompson, and Kelsey Wilder.

Each of these students will be moving on to complete their 1,000 hours of clinical internship prior to sitting for their Board

Certification exam and completing their degree.

Congratulations to the music therapy graduating class of 2019!

As always, keep an eye on our Instagram: @iu_music_therapy_club and our snapchat: IU Music Therapy Club for updates on our meetings and events going into next semester.

Have a great summer!

Taylor Stroup, Class of 2019

Senior Recital Students

The Immaculata Music Department would like to acknowledge the five students that performed senior recitals this semester. The students are (L-R): Naomi Thompson, Alyssa Wiltbank, Marilyn Benvenuto, Emma Richey, and Brandon Percak. The senior recitals are a chance for seniors to showcase their skills from the past four years of classical lessons, and these students did just that. Congratulations to each of these five students and best of luck in all your future endeavors!

Music Education Club Gabrielle De Marco, Class of 2019

On April 1st, Ms. Morrow, our chorale director, came in and taught on how to run a successful choir. We, as a group, would like to express our deepest gratitude to Mrs. Morrow for taking the time out of her already busy schedule to show us how to put together a great choir!

She talked about structure in the classroom, about how to start the meeting, and how to choose repertoire that would best fit the vocal ranges for the chorale. We would also like to congratulate our new e-board members for the 2019-2020 year: President: Carrie Hawbaker Vice President: Kailee McWiliams Treasurer: Erin Gouak Secretary: Catherine Carey In addition, we would like to congratulate our seniors who will be graduating May 19th, 2019: Katelyn Reichle, Alexis Reavill, Gabrielle De Marco, and Alyssa Wiltbank. We wish you tremendous success and happiness as you prepare to become music educators.

Taylor Stroup, Class of 2019

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Immaculata Ensembles Concert On both April 9th and April 16th, Immaculata held our small ensembles concerts. On April 9th, the percussion ensemble opened the student recital by performing three pieces that they have been working on this semester. They began with a piece entitled Ting

by Josh Gottry. Following that was a piece entitled Manhattan

by Mark Ford that featured Naomi Thompson ’19 on marimba. They ended their performance with a piece entitled Shock Factor written by Nathan Daughtrey.

The following week on April 16th, both the guitar and the chamber ensembles performed.

The night began with the guitar ensemble who performed four pieces. The first piece was Song Tune by Thomas Campion.

Following this piece was Simple Gifts originally written by Joseph Bracket and was arranged by Mr. John Dragonetti, the ensemble’s director. They then played Ashoken Farewell by Jay Unger and arranged by Mr. Dragonetti.

Their portion ended with a piece called El testament d’Amelia.

This piece was written by Miguel

Llobet and arranged by Mr. Dragonetti.

The chamber ensemble ended the ensembles concert with Beethoven’s Piano Quintet in E flat. They played the first and third movement of this work.

This piece was originally written for oboe, clarinet, bassoon, french horn, and piano. There was a minor adjustment in the group because they used a Euphonium in place of a bassoon. All three groups had wonderful performances and their hard work was seen as they performed.

Emma Richey, Class of 2019

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Immaculata Symphony: Symphony in Space

On April 6, 2019, at 7:30p.m. in Alumnae Hall, the Immaculata Symphony Orchestra debuted their exceptional Symphony in Space performance under the direction of Mr. Joseph Gehring. This was the final performance of the Immaculata Symphony Orchestra for the 2018-2019 academic year.

Alumnae Hall was filled with many members of the Immaculata faculty, staff, students, and community members who have been anticipating this performance. The Symphony in Space theme featured The Planets, Op. 32 composed by Gustav Holst (1874-1934). The orchestra performed six of the seven movements composed for this work. The first movement, Mars, “The Bringer of War” was intended to portray the essential element of human character that often bring on war, but which also impels progress in the face of resistance. This movement employed the unusual metric element of five beats to the measure. Venus, “The Bringer of Peace” was the second movement which filled the hall with a serene sound that was a perfect contrast to the opening movement. The third movement, “The Winged Messenger” is represented by Mercury which was very lively, quick, and powerful in equal measure. Movement five, Saturn, “The Bringer of Old Age” represents the side of human character that carries through to fulfillments. This movement marks the spiritual side of the soul as it represents the completion and fulfillment of life and an inevitable debarkation into the unknown. Uranus, “The Magician” brings man into touch with the metaphysical. Lastly, the Symphony closed the concert with the most well-known movement, Jupiter which is “The Bringer if Jollity”. Jupiter includes large swells from the brass section and the slow waltzing strings which join together creating a beautiful and emotional movement. This concert also featured J.S. Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 583 and the twenty first century work, Mothership for orchestra and electronica composed by Mason Bates.

Kailee McWilliams, Class of 2020

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Immaculata Chorale and Madrigals Congratulations to our Chorale Seniors of 2019! (L-R): Brandon Percak, Jared Viz, Emma Richey, Marilyn Benvenuto, Katelyn Stirparo, Alyssa Wiltbank, and Alexis Reavill. The Chorale and Madrigal Singers are under the musical direction of Mrs. Dorina Morrow.

On April 26, 2019 at 7:30pm in Memorial Hall, the Immaculata University Chorale and Madrigal Singers presented their Spring Concert. This program featured a variety of music that was exciting for all who was in attendance!

The Chorale performed several fantastic pieces including Eric Whitacre's Seal Lullaby, Ralph Manuel's Alleluia, Robert Page's arrangement of Here There and Everywhere (made famous by the legendary John Lennon and Paul McCartney), and John Williams' Dry Your Tears Afrika from the

film Amistad (this piece in particular had "choralography" which visually brought the text to life). The Chorale's performance also featured a number of soloists whose talents created a meaningful experience for the audience. The Madrigal Singers skillfully performed entertaining pieces such as Ed Lojeski's Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (a melody made famous in popular music by The Andrews Sisters), Carol Barnett's Remember the Ladies (based on a letter written by Abigail Adams), Giulio Caccini's Ave Maria, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Laudate Dominum (featuring a well-known soprano solo). The Madrigal Singers also featured fabulous soloists that helped to tell the stories of each piece. Giulio Caccini's Ave Maria, in particular, had every Madrigal Singer featured in either a solo, duet, or trio.

As this beautiful night of music concluded, the graduating seniors of both ensembles were given roses as this marked their last choral performance at Immaculata University. Best of luck seniors!

Alyssa Wiltbank, Class of 2019

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Immaculata Concert Band with the West Chester Community Band The Immaculata University Concert Band and the West Chester Band joined forces under the direction of Mr. Joseph Gehring.

The program began with the playing of our national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner (arranged by Floyd Werle (b. 1929)), under the direction of student conductor, Taylor Stroup (’19). The next selection was Red Rock Mountain, composed by Rossano Galante (b. 1967). This illustrious piece was written to capture the beauty of Red Rock Mountain in Rickett’s Glen State Park in Luzerne, PA. Galante achieves this through majestic and soaring wind lines and concludes with a heroic brass fanfare. Next, the band performed Alfred Reed’s (1921-2005) First Suite in four movements: I. March, II. Melody, III. Rag, and IV. Gallop. Next the band played, Rush by the active composer Samuel Hazo (b. 1966). This is a contemporary piece commissioned by Wenger. Wenger is a music supply company that manufactures products like music stands, chairs, sound shields, and choral risers. Hazo visited a Wenger factory and listened to the sound and the rhythm of the different machines. In this piece, he captures the essence of the factory through the usage of a variety of percussion instruments and frequent meter change. Next, the band performed Lord Tullamore by Carl Wittrock (b. 1966) which captures a snapshot of Irish folk music in this diverse three-part composition that features both technical and energetic reels along with peaceful, lyrical sections. Next, the Black Horse Troop March by John Phillip Sousa (1854-1932) was performed. Sousa wrote this work in honor of Cleveland, Ohio’s National Guard horse unit, Troop A, which surrounded Sousa’s band when it premiered on October 17th, 1925. This march highlights the brass and percussion at various dynamic levels. As a finale, Selections from Mary Poppins (arr. Alfred Reed) was performed. The audience joyfully sang along with the band’s performance of these timeless classics.

Congratulations to the members of the Immaculata University Concert Band and the West Chester Band for an excellent performance. The student performers: FLUTE- Taylor Stroup, Carrie Hawbaker. Jessica Migrala, Tarynn Garrett, and Kate Graziano OBOE- Emma Richey CLARINET- Krista Quinn and Julia Brawley BASS CLARINET- Maggie Hawbaker ALTO SAXOPHONE- David Graham HORN- James Dunwoody EUPHONIUM- Meghan Hernandez TROMBONE- Madison Molnar TUBA- Jason Roamer PERCUSSION- Naomi Thompson and Kailee McWilliams.

John Antosh, Class of 2021

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The Curtis Symphony at Immaculata On April 13, 2019, at 3pm in Alumnae Hall, the Immaculata community hosted the musicians of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This performance was the last of three concerts scheduled to be performed during the 2018-2019 academic year on the campus of Immaculata University. The Hall was filled with hundreds of excited listeners, consisting of students, guests of the campus, and faculty/ staff of Immaculata. During the concert, Immaculata president, Barbara Lettiere presented Maestro Yannick Nezet-Seguin with a citation from Immaculata to recognize the immense impact he has made on international audiences and most recently, the students at Curtis. The program, named Impressionist and Romantic, included the following compositions: Maurice Ravel’s Une Barque sur I’ocean, Claude Debussy’s Nocturnes, and Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No.9 in D minor. This article will review and describe the night of music brought by the Curtis Symphony concert.

The first piece performed by the Curtis Symphony was Une Barque sur I’ocean, composed by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). This piece was the third and longest of five character-pieces which he called Miroirs (Reflections). Inspired by the principles of impressionism and symbolism, and meetings with a group of artists and intellectuals named “Les Apaches,” Ravel originally wrote these works for piano in an attempt to push forward in the idea of “impressionism.” Une Barque sur I’ocean contained some of Ravel’s most coloristic textures and shows a relationship to visual arts. I was personally impressed by the intense focus on dynamic changes in small periods of time and felt engulfed in the lightness of the music and its ability to change textures very quickly but return to soft, light music.

Following Une Barque sur I’ocean was Nocturnes by Claude Debussy (1862-1918). This piece was written as an attempt by Debussy to create various textures with a single color, and consisted of three movements: Nuages (Clouds), Fetes (Festivals), and Sirenes (Sirens). Years after writing the piece, he revised and reworked what was originally composed, removing the violin solo and adding a choir of 16 women to the last movement as a representation of the sirens (mythical creatures said to enchant sailors with their strange songs). The piece was conducted by Yannick Nezet- Seguin, a music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Montreal’s Orchestre Metropolitain, a tenured director of the Metropolitan Opera, honorary conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and a widely recognized music leader of the highest caliber. Nezet- Seguin brought a powerful intensity and professionalism to the conducting and musicality of Debussy’s Nocturnes. I appreciated the phrasing of each movement and the repeated motive that occurred throughout each piece. The choir used in the third movement created a much more textured sound and made the piece mysterious and gave it a beauty quite unlike the rest.

After a brief intermission, the symphony performed their last piece, Symphony No. 9 in D minor by Anton Bruckner (1824-1896). This piece, also conducted by Yannick Nezet- Seguin, consisted of three movements: Feierlich, misterioso; Scherzo: Bewegt, lebhaft; and Adagio: Langsam, feierlich. The symphony was never truly finished but has a more complete sounding end the more it is listened to, with the Adagio standing as one of the most profound achievements of western music. Bruckner, ever a perfectionist, worked on this piece for years before devoting his full effort to it, and worked on a finale for it the morning of his death. The first movement, beginning with nothing and then fading in to its striking theme and showing a strong sonata form, displayed the extreme musicality of the Curtis Symphony and the strength of the Wind instrumentalists, who rose to give power to strong moments. The second movement had a much more disconnected and dissonant sound, especially in the winds. I liked the dissonance and strength shown especially in brass instruments at higher intensity moments and the pizzicato moments in the strings. The third movement was much more lyrical than the other two and was very emotive. The dissonance was much lighter than that of the second movement, and reiterated principle themes provided throughout the whole piece. I liked the intertwining of focus on strings and winds as the movement passed through differing sections. Overall, the concert was an extremely impressive showing of musical skill and the Students, Faculty, and Visitors of Immaculata University felt blessed to have witnessed this performance by the Curtis Symphony Orchestra.

Meghan Hernandez, Class of 2022

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