Pacific Choirs Pacific Wind Bands
Valérie Sainte-Agathe resident conductor
Vu Nguyen, conductor
Catherine Likhuta composer-in-residence
September 28, 2024
7:30 pm
Faye Spanos Concert Hall
Hunter Campbell, Ryan Eads, Matthew Kulm and Peter Norman, percussion
Ricardo Martinez, alto saxophone
Katie Pelletier, soprano
28, 2024, 7:30 PM
Pacific Singers
I Listen to the Stillness of You (2016)
Tarik O'Regan (b. 1978)
Pal-So-Seong (Eight Laughing Voices) (2016)
Hyo-Won Woo (b. 1974)
arr. Geoff Lawson Still (2019)
Me Renovare from Songs of Renewal (2017)
Ola Gjeilo (b. 1978)
Will Todd (b. 1970)
Tree (2019)
Aurora Aksnes (b. 1996)
Odd Martin Skaalnes (b. 1985)
Magnus Skylstad (b. 1983)
arr. Katerina Gimon
Hunter Campbell, Ryan Eads, Matthew Kulm and Peter Norman, percussion
Let the Darkness Out (2019)
1981)
Ticheli (b. 1958)
Catherine Likhuta (b.
Frank
Catherine Likhuta
Ricardo Martinez, alto saxophone
Katie Pelletier, soprano
PROGRAM NOTES
O’Regan: I Listen to the Stillness of You
I Listen to the Stillness of You is taken from O’Regan’s larger choral work Mass Observation, which the composer describes as “a meditation on the histories of our varied ambivalent relationships with surveillance in its myriad guises … The work takes its title from the British social research organization, MassObservation, which aimed to record everyday life in the United Kingdom.”
—Breanna Daley
Woo: Pal-So-Seong (Eight Laughing Voices)
One of Korea’s most prominent composers, Hyo-Won Woo has emerged as a formidable voice in choral music. Her groundbreaking works blend traditional Korean musical elements and Western technique, and include settings of Latin text, playful spatial music, and arrangements examining wordless human encounters. Nonsense syllables and passages for various forms of laughter make this a highly entertaining work for both singers and listeners.
—Hyo-Won Woo
Gjeilo: Still
Ola Gjeilo was born in Norway in 1978 and moved to the United States in 2001 to begin his composition studies at the Juilliard School in New York City. Still originated as a piece on his solo piano album Night, later arranged for wordless choir and harp (or piano) by Geoff Lawson.
—Ola Gjeilo
Todd: Me Renovare from Songs of Renewal
Me Renovare is the last movement of Todd's Songs of Renewal choral suite. The work was commissioned by Benjamin Goodson for the Bath Camerata in 2018.
—Will Todd
Aksnes/Skaalnes/Skylstad/Gimon: Apple Tree
Apple Tree was arranged for Carrie Tennant and the Vancouver Youth Choir to premiere at the World Symposium on Choral Music 2023 in Istanbul, Turkey. Written by Norwegian singer-songwriter trio, Apple Tree addresses the urgency of the global climate crisis and serves as a reminder that within each and every one of us lies the power to make a difference. The lyrics urge us to come together, listen, and support each other so we can “save the world.”
—Aurora Aksnes, Odd Martin Skaalnes, Magus Skylstad
TEXT AND TRANSLATIONS
O’Regan: I Listen to the Stillness of You
I listen to the stillness of you,
My dear, among it all; I feel your silence touch my words as I talk, And take them in thrall.
My words fly off a forge
The length of a spark; I see the night-sky easily sip them
Up in the dark.
Aksnes/Skaalnes/Skylstad/Gimon: Apple Tree
All of my life I’ve been hunting
I’ve been a girl, I’ve been a boy
Digging my feet into the ground like an apple tree
Wanting to live with a purpose.
Skin is a word, love is not a sin
People are bad, people are good
Just like the moon is a stone
But it’s a star when it’s dark and now she’s hiding.
If you’ve seen what a heart is, you’ve seen its color
If I ever knew how we could guide it
I would take care of its children, become their mother
If I ever knew how we could hide it.
Let her save the world, she is just a girl
Let him save them all, he is just a boy.
Hunger is quiet if you do it right
—D.H. Lawrence
Hunter is loud and predictable, scaring away ev’ry prey so they are gone before the hunter arrives.
Would you be kind and put away your sword?
You cannot cut away what we got
You cannot kill what we are
We are not here in physical form.
PROGRAM NOTES
You’ve seen where the knife is, its dark location
If I ever knew how we could fight it
I would cut into our anger, make pure emotion
If I ever knew how we could hide it.
Let her save the world, she is just a girl
Let him save them all, he is just a boy
Can you carry the weight of morality?
The explosions around you are your symphony.
— Aurora Aksnes, Odd Martin Skaalnes, Magnus Skylstad
Nishimura: Origin
Origin was commissioned by Dr. Jeff Reynolds for the University of Toronto Wind Ensemble. As an alumna of the school and a former student of Dr. Reynolds, it was an honor to compose this short fanfare to open the 2022–23 concert season at UofT. Origin is an uplifting, empowering piece that evokes the feeling of returning home to a significant place in one’s journey, reflecting on all that has changed and all that has remained. I have come to cherish the magical fullcircle experiences that occur when my music is performed in spaces that were meaningful or inspiring to me as a young musician. This piece is an ode to all the people and places that leave a lasting impact on the lives of others.
—Cait Nishimura
Likhuta: Let the Darkness Out
In its original 2011 version, Let the Darkness Out is a virtuosic sonata for alto saxophone and piano, and is one of my most performed saxophone pieces. Shortly after moving to Australia in 2012, I heard about Michael Duke as one of the country’s most prominent saxophonists and champions of new saxophone repertoire. Incidentally, around the same time, Michael was attending an international conference in the United States and heard about me and my music from the then-president of the North American Saxophone Alliance, Griffin Campbell, who had toured Darkness for several concert seasons. Since then, I had great pleasure to collaborate with Michael and his renowned ensemble HD Duo. At some point during our collaboration, Michael came up with the idea to turn Darkness into a saxophone concerto and gave me inspiration and support to make this idea a reality. I felt very comfortable (and excited!) making this new version for John Lynch and the SCM Wind Symphony—one of the absolute best wind ensembles in the country. Inspired by these fine musicians, the piece aims to
PROGRAM NOTES
highlight the expressive and virtuosic features of a stellar saxophone soloist, matched and supported by a confident and powerful ensemble.
—Catherine Likhuta
Ticheli: Angels in the Architecture
Angels in the Architecture was commissioned by Kingsway International and received its premiere performance at the Sydney Opera House on July 6, 2008, by a massed band of young musicians from Australia and the United States, conducted by Mathew George. The work unfolds as a dramatic conflict between the two extremes of human existence—one divine, the other evil. The work's title is inspired by the Sydney Opera House itself, with its halo-shaped acoustical ornaments hanging directly above the performance stage.
Angels in the Architecture begins with a single voice singing a 19th-century Shaker song:
I am an angel of Light I have soared from above I am cloth'd with Mother's love. I have come, I have come. To protect my chosen band And lead them to the promised land.
This "angel"—represented by the singer—frames the work, surrounding it with a protective wall of light and establishing the divine. Other representations of light, played by instruments rather than sung, include a traditional Hebrew song of peace ("Hevenu Shalom Aleichem") and the well-known 16th-century Genevan Psalter, "Old Hundredth." These three borrowed songs, despite their varied religious origins, are meant to transcend any one religion, representing the more universal human ideals of peace, hope, and love. An original chorale, appearing twice in the work, represents my own personal expression of these aspirations.
Just as Charles Ives did more than a century ago, Angels in the Architecture poses the unanswered question of existence. It ends as it began: the angel reappears singing the same comforting words. But deep below, a final shadow reappears—distantly, ominously.
—Frank Ticheli
Likhuta: Home Away from Home
I was born and raised in Kyiv, Ukraine, and then lived in the United States for eight years before moving permanently to Australia in 2012. As a result, all three countries became home to me, and I always miss them and my friends in each of them when I am away. It so happened that the commission for Home Away from Home came just before my family and I went on sabbatical to Ithaca, NY (our home in 2005–2009) from Australia, also stopping by Ukraine on our way there. It was a very special time, filled with somewhat forgotten youthful thrill, wonderful reunions and nostalgic experiences. It made me realize that, in a way, each of these three places was my home away from home. I reflected on that thought and also started thinking about the university freshmen students for whom I was writing the piece, who just left their parents’ nest and were finding their home away from home and their new life and community on campus.
The opening section of the work represents the initial excitement associated with the new beginning, somewhat similar to a plane take-off: you are strapped in and have no control over what’s going to happen next, yet somehow you know you are in for an exciting experience. The melancholic section that follows is a moment of reflection, inspired by the experience of visiting a house where your loved ones used to live, for the first time after they are gone. After the initial sadness and sorrow, which are inevitable parts of this experience, your mind brings forward wonderful memories associated with these loved ones, making you sad and happy at the same time. The next section is desperate and determined, building the tension and bringing the listener to the gutsy climax inspired by Ukrainian folk music, before returning to the original youthful, optimistic and funky opening material. The piece ends on a positive note, with a little quirky waltz surprise thrown in just before the end.
—Catherine Likhuta
Catherine Likhuta is a Ukrainian-Australian composer, pianist and recording artist. Her music exhibits high emotional charge, programmatic nature, rhythmic complexity and Ukrainian folk elements. Her works have been commissioned and performed by prominent ensembles including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, The Ohio State University Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the National Radio of Ukraine, The Dallas Winds, Chicago Symphony Orchestra Brass Quintet, Atlantic Brass Quintet, Ensemble Q, ICE, Lyrebird Brass, NU CORNO and U.S. Army Field Band Horns. Likhuta has held residencies with The Dallas Winds, at Tyalgum Music Festival, North Carolina NewMusic Initiative, and dozens of American universities and conservatories. She is a two-time winner of the International Horn Society Composition Contest (virtuoso division) and a recipient of numerous prestigious awards and grants. Horn virtuosa Denise Tryon’s album Hope Springs Eternal, featuring Catherine’s piece Vivid Dreams, was awarded the 2022 American Prize in Instrumental Performance. Likhuta holds a bachelor's degree in jazz piano from Kyiv Glière Music College, a five-year post-graduate degree in composition from the National Music Academy of Ukraine (Kyiv Conservatory) and a PhD in composition from the University of Queensland. In the U.S., she studied with Dana Wilson and Steven Stucky.
Valérie Sainte-Agathe has prepared and conducted the San Francisco Girls Chorus (SFGC) since 2013, including performances with renowned ensembles throughout the United States and beyond. Through transformative choral music training, education, and performance, SainteAgathe empowers young women and champions the music of today throughout the choral world.
At the SFGC, Sainte-Agathe welcomes collaborators including the San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Symphony, Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer, Opera Parallele, and folk sensation Aoife O’Donovan. She joined Philharmonia Baroque as their chorale director in 2022 and was featured in the 2022 book Music Mavens: 15 Women of Note published by the Chicago Review Press.
Further highlights of her illustrious career include her Carnegie Hall and Barbican Center debuts with the Philip Glass Ensemble, conducting the SFGC for the New York Philharmonic Biennial Festival at Lincoln Center, and collaborating with The Knights for the SHIFT Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. She has made two recordings as the SFGC’s Music Director, Final Answer (2018) and My Outstretched Hand (2019).
Sainte-Agathe served as music director for the Young Singers program of the Montpellier National Symphony and Opera in France from 1998 to 2011, and participated in eight recordings with the Montpellier National Orchestra and the Radio France Festival.
Vu Nguyen '00is an associate professor and director of bands at University of the Pacific. He conducts Pacific Wind Bands and teaches courses in conducting and music education.
An active clinician and guest conductor, Nguyen maintains an active schedule as a clinician. He has served as guest conductor with the United States Air Force Bands of the Golden West and Mid America, as well as numerous honor bands at state, regional, and local levels across the country. Ensembles under his direction have performed at events such as the Midwest Clinic, the College Band Directors National Association Conference, and state music educator conferences.
A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Nguyen holds degrees in conducting from the University of Washington and the University of Oregon and a Bachelor of Music in music education from University of the Pacific. Before returning to Pacific, he held similar positions at University of Connecticut, University of Indianapolis, and Washington University in St. Louis in addition to being a visiting conductor with the Indiana University Concert Band. He began his teaching career in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District. In addition to his academic career, Nguyen retired as an officer in the Air National Guard where he was the commander/conductor of the ANG Band of the West Coast.
Ricardo Martinez is assistant professor of practice in saxophone at University of the Pacific, where he also teaches courses in musicianship and music appreciation.
Martinez began his saxophone studies in the Bay Area under David Henderson of Stanford University and William Trimble, and he earned degrees at the University of Minnesota and at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Cergy-Pontoise, France, receiving the Médaille d’Or in saxophone and graduating with honors in chamber music. Martinez later completed graduate work at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music under the guidance of Otis Murphy and studied with the esteemed Japanese saxophonist Nobuya Sugawa at the Hamamatsu International Wind Academy and Festival.
Martinez was featured soloist with the Mission Chamber Orchestra of San José, Stanford Summer Symphony, University of the Pacific's Symphony Orchestra, Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Cergy-Pontoise Wind Ensemble in France, and Mitaka City Orchestra in Japan. In addition, Martinez has performed with the San Francisco Symphony, California Symphony, Classical Tahoe, Music in the Mountains, and San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. He has recorded at Skywalker Ranch in Marin County.
An avid chamber musician, Martinez won the grand prize in the 2019 Plowman Chamber Music Competition, first prize in the 2017 Chicago Woodwind Ensemble Competition, and first prize in the 2015 East Central Division MTNA Chamber Music Competition. Martinez is an endorsing artist for Legere Reeds and BG France.
Pacific Singers
Pacific Singers are a select, mixed-voice chamber choir who collaborate with the University Chorus for two choral concerts each semester and perform at major university events and ceremonies. They also work with the University Symphony Orchestra and the Stockton Symphony to perform major choral and orchestral pieces.
Soprano
Magdalena Bowen
Amber Medlen
Ria Patel
Katie Pelletier
Charlize Price
Shannon Shepherd
Bell Souza
Alto
Mia Janosik
Rose Krueger
Shannon Lyons
Zoie Macapanpan
Elizabeth Neumeyer
Tenor
Miranda Duarte
Leo Hearl
Jordan Hendrickson
Michael Megenney
Ian Orejana
Bass
Daniel Campbel
Jordan Reece Guitang
Landon Horstman
Berrell Slaughter
Ernesto Pena
PACIFIC WIND BANDS
Pacific Wind Bands at University of the Pacific include students who represent music majors, minors, and non-majors from across Pacific. The ensemble performs at least four concerts each academic year. It provides students the opportunity to play a broad range of music for winds, brass, percussion, and keyboards drawn from a repertoire that honors the rich history of the past and looks to the future, ranging from chamber to full wind band instrumentation. Recent premieres and collaborations with composers include Kevin Bobo, Viet Cuong, Kevin Day, Catherine Likhuta, Giovanni Santos, and Alex Shapiro.
Flute
Grace Coon
Riko Hirata
Bobby Singh
Jasmine Valentine
Ethan Williams
Oboe
Walker Austin
Gabriel Jarata
Jayden Laumeister
Chase White
Emily Zamudio
Clarinet
Mitchell Amos
Edmund Bascon
Audrey Ewing
Kaitlyn Ferreira
Tommy Galvin
Jacqueline Hairston
Vanessa Lopez
Abigail Miller
Joseph Schwarz
Andrew Seaver
Leah Troutt
Bassoon
Justin Silva
Jess Vreeland
Jordan Wier
Saxophone
Ivan Barajas
Tristan McMichael
Marcus Rudes
Ves Turk
Horn
Marcelo Contreras
Jas Lopez
Don Parker
Jada Ramos
Owen Sheridan
Skylar Warren
Trumpet
Parker Deems
Keagan Low
Alayna Ontai
Kamron Qasimi
Yukina Shimokawa
Aiden Webbe
Piano Magdalene Myint
Trombone
Bronson Burfield
William Giancaterino
Miguel Palma
Radley Rutledge
Matthew Young
Euphonium
Victor Alcaraz
Tuba
Seth Morris
Alejandro Villalobos
Bass
Kyle Saelee
Percussion
Hunter Campbell
Ryan Eads
Maddie Karzin
Casey Kim
Matthew Kulm
Jinling Li
Robert McCarl
Peter Norman
Aiden Valdez
Pacific Faculty Coaches
Brittany Trotter, flute
Kyle Bruckmann, oboe
Patricia Shands, clarinet
Ricardo Martinez, saxophone
Nicolasa Kuster, bassoon
Leonard Ott, trumpet
Sadie Glass, horn
Bruce Chrisp, low brass
Jonathan Latta, percussion
Sonia Leong, piano
Kathryn Schulmeister, bass
Jonathan Latta, ensembles program director
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Coming soon . . .
Oct. 3, 7 pm, Take 5 Jazz Club Patrick Langham Quartet
Oct. 9, 7:30 pm, Faye Spanos Concert hall University Symphony Orchestra Matilda Hofman, conductor-in-residence
Oct. 13, 5:30 pm, Recital Hall Saxophone and Piano Recital Otis Murphy, saxophone Haruko Murphy, piano
To view our upcoming events, scan the QR code or visit Pacific.edu/MusicEvents.