Pacific Composers
Featuring original works by Pacific student composers: Vanessa Lopez, Jordan Wier, Michael Shove, Alayna Ontai, Ian Orejana, Conner Hsu, Don Parker, and Miranda Duarte
Andrew Conklin, composition program director
Tuesday, December 3, 2024
7:30 pm
Recital Hall
DECEMBER 3, 2024, 7:30 PM
Fantasy in G minor (2024)
Bobby Singh, flute
Jayden Laumeister, oboe
Vanessa Lopez, clarinet
Jordan Wier, bassoon
Skylar Warren, horn
Davis Robinson, piano
Wier, vocals, piano Broken Reflection (2024)
piano
Gabriel Jarata, oboe
Yukina Shimokawa, trumpet
Davis Robinson, piano
Vanessa Lopez ‘25
Jordan Wier ‘25
Jordan
Michael Shove ‘26
Michael Shove,
Alayna Ontai ‘26
vocals, guitar
Mereth Niemoeller, violin
Jiangshuo Ma, cello
Waltzes Unconscious (2024) Miranda Duarte ‘26
Miranda Duarte, Jordan Hendrickson, Ian Orejana, Leo Hearl, vocals
Alex Maldonado, trumpet
Bergen Finley, guitar
Kyle Saelee, bass
Joe Evans, drums
Duet (2024)
Don Parker ‘26
Skylar Warren, horn
Don Parker, guitar
Connor Hsu ‘28
Ian Orejana ‘26
PROGRAM NOTES
Notes by the composers
Lopez: Fantasy in G minor
Fantasy in G minor is a multi-movement work I began writing in September 2023. As of now, this piece has three movements, two of which are completed; I am currently working on the third movement. The second movement of this work—the movement which will be premiered today—was written in January 2024. This movement expresses the various emotions I felt while reflecting on a traumatic event from just over a year earlier.
Wier: Broken Reflection
Broken Reflection is a song I started writing when someone incredibly close to me was struggling mentally and having a hard time seeing the good side to themselves. This song became my way of saying “I wish you could see yourself the way I see you” while acknowledging that self-love is a battle that we cannot fight for someone else, no matter how much we wish we could. To anyone who is struggling with self-love, this one goes out to you.
Shove: Misgivings
As someone who enjoys the works of Thelonious Monk and Claude Debussy, I have fun exploring spacious, less defined intervals and chords and jazz movements. That is largely how I built this piece, starting with a common jazz progression of 1-6-2-5 built on the intervals of open 4ths and 5ths. I went from there on intuition and wrote anything I thought was pretty. Overall, I think I am trying to capture an antique sort of sound, particularly in the final moments. I also enjoy my fair share of dissonance and have been told I do not resolve, so do not look forward to that.
PROGRAM NOTES
Ontai: Gate 14B
This piece was commissioned at the beginning of the year by the TOP Trio. I chose to write for the trio because I found the instrumentation so interesting, and it posed the opportunity to write for an ensemble that very few pieces exist for. At the time of writing the piece I was traveling and working in the airport, which is where the title Gate 14B comes from. Writing this piece proved to be a bit of a challenge with such differing instrumentation, but it allowed me to explore the contrasting sounds that these instruments had to offer and find ways for them to complement each other as well.
Orejana: Keeping My Mind Busy
This song, simply put, is about everything that I have been thinking or worried about this year. Starting as a note to myself, I decided to use these worries as a way to answer my unanswerable questions about life. During a sleepless night, I came up with the chord progression and so came the natural feeling of longing and uncertainty. It was fun to explore this style of singer-songwriter music that I have not been able to before.
Hsu: Duet
This is my very first piece written as a composition major. The cello provides a rhythmic, almost dance- like bass line on which the violin builds a flowing melodic line. The two instruments take part in counterpoint, which provides contrasting lines from the base "rhythm" section, as well as providing an opportunity for the cello to take more melodic lines. There are multiple call and response sections throughout the piece that serve as transitions from one section to another.
PROGRAM NOTES
Parker: Duet
This piece is written specifically for the classical natural horn (optionally, modern horn) and guitar accompaniment. The baroque natural horn can only play pitches in the harmonic series, while the classical horn is fully chromatic with the use of the right hand inside the bell. The technique for playing the non-chromatic notes results in an incredible spectrum of timbres, where nearly every note played on the instrument has its own unique sound. This piece takes advantage of the diversity of the available timbres from the horn, while also incorporating the classical guitar as a contrasting texture.
Duarte: Waltzes Unconscious
How many drinks before a woman becomes a spectacle? We push through the glass ceiling with advocacy, protest, and strength. Feminism remains an ongoing battle for all to be equal, but we are still fighting for basic rights: the right to our own bodies and the right to our own lives. Waltzes Unconscious is a commentary regarding the effect of party culture on feminism. She is intoxicated for you to enjoy, so enjoy her.
FACULTY COACHES
Composition Faculty
Andrew Conklin, program director
Hendel Almetus
Eric Wood
Ensemble Coaches
Sonia Leong, piano
Igor Veligan, violin/viola
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