Fall Composers Concert 11/30/21

Pacific Composers: Fall Premieres Tuesday I November 30, 2021 Recital Hall

I 7:30 pm

Featured Composers: Leonard R.R. Cox, Jane Damon, Mary Denney, Logan Feece, Jordan Hendrickson, Gerardo Lopez, Mark T. Loya, Michael Robertson, Mason Weillie Andrew Conklin, director

27th Performance I 2021–22 Academic Year I Conservatory of Music I University of the Pacific

CONCERT PROGRAM I NOVEMBER 30, 2021 I 7:30 PM

Cloud Cover (2021)

Mary Denney ‘24

Michael De Lashmutt, soprano saxophone; Ryan Porter, alto saxophone; Theresa Huynh, tenor saxophone; Tristan McMichael, baritone saxophone

The Forest Before (2021)

Leonard R.R. Cox ‘24

Charlotte Han, Emma Young, violin; Sam Tse, viola; Hasina Torres, cello

Swarm and Nest of the Hornets (2021)

Mason Weillie ‘22

Mereth Niemoeller violin; Jordan Wier, bassoon

Old Life (2021)

Michael Robertson ‘24

Tristan McMichael, saxophone; Ellie Aquino, violin; Wyatt Cannon. piano

Forever - is composed of Nows (2021)

Mary Denney ‘24

Composers Concert Vocal Ensemble Metamorphoses (2021)

Jane Damon ‘24

Composers Concert Vocal Ensemble; Matthew Miramontes, sackbut Intermission

CONCERT PROGRAM I OCTOBER 6, 2021 I 7:30 PM Nature’s Serenade (2021)

Gerardo Lopez ‘23

II. A Noiseless Patient Spider Rose Dickson, soprano; Phoenix Farris, flute; Reese Romero, horn; Jude Markel, harpsichord; Logan Adams, double bass

Catch and Release (2021)

Jordan Hendrickson ‘25

Natalie Kowalski, flute; Apollo Parish Mitchell, oboe; Edgard Gonzales, clarinet; Reese Romero, horn; Ella Hebrard, bassoon Odyssey to Nowhere (2021)

Mark T. Loya ‘23

Mark Loya, flute; Glenn Adcock, oboe; Marcus Romero, clarinet; Jada Ramos, horn; Tyler Van Zuiden, bassoon glib globglogabgalab (2021)

Logan Feece ‘23

Liam Shaughnessy and Ealaph Tabbaa, violin; Sam Tse, viola; Jane Damon, cello; Noah Gonzales, double bass; Logan Feece, piano

Composers Concert Vocal Ensemble Juliette Frediere and Jordan Yang, soprano; Krys Checo and Andie Reposa, alto; Noah Gonzales and Matthew Miramontes, tenor; Seth Neves and Joshua Porter, bass

Program Notes Cloud Cover The process of writing this piece was very different from many of my other works. Instead of starting at the beginning and writing straight to the end, this piece began as a series of short musical ideas that lacked a specific form.

In later drafts of the piece, however, I found myself doing substantial editing and rearranging of those ideas more than I was actually composing new materials, disrupting the linearity of my typical compositional process, resulting in a final product that was completely different from my initial plan. Working on this piece surprised me and challenged me, so it has been very humbling and rewarding to finally have a final product to share.

Much of the piece is centered around voices straying from one another and converging in rhythmic unison. The title “Cloud Cover” evokes the imagery of the motion of clouds moving back and forth in the sky, either obscuring the sun or revealing it.

The Forest Before The Forest Before was created and written by Leonard RR Cox in 2021 at University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music. Made for a string quartet, 2 violins, a viola, and cello, this piece will give you the frightened excitement and dark feeling of a gloomy forest in a night setting. Described as “the night before an attack,” this piece has many clashing intervals and harmonies to create suspense and mystery for the listener. Having fluctuating tempos and rhythms also creates a sense of anxiety and the inability to predict what’s happening next, which is why there is even a free time adlibbed section in the middle of the piece passed back and forth from cello to violin 2 starting with soft mysterious pizzicato, and working their way back to the full powerful intense dance with the rest of the quartet at the B section of the piece. In the forest however, there is not always fear and darkness as there is beauty and resolution through the trees and life. In 2 sections in this quartet, one being the ending legato section, you will hear resolution and long held beautiful melodies and chords, led by our incredibly warm and magical cello player with some short but sweet melodies of its own. With all this up and down of dark and light there seems to be balance in The Forest Before.

Program Notes Swarm and Nest of the Hornets “Swarm & Nest Of The Hornets!” was written for violin and bassoon during September and October and was finalized earlier this month. As the title suggests, this piece is supposed to depict the dangers of seeing a swarm of hornets, one of nature’s most dangerous insects, and what the inside of a hornet’s nest might sound like in a musical setting, with the addition of at least one extended performance technique in the violin to create the sound of an insect’s legs traversing the terrain inside and outside the nest. For this piece, as a sort of homage to film composer Bernard Herrmann, both instruments work efficiently and musically to create the dramatic and/or creepy atmosphere and feeling that danger is right around the corner.

Old Life The Paleozoic Era was a period lasting from 541 to 252 million years ago, and in that time, life on Earth changed a great deal. The concept of this piece was to musically depict the evolution of life through that Era, emphasizing some of the defining characteristics of each time period of the Era. The piece ended up being more of a series of snapshots of history, capturing the feeling that I get from these time periods. I hope to return to this idea in the future, but expanding the piece into multiple movements, including everything up to our present day.

The term “Paleozoic” comes from the Greek words “palaiós (παλαιός),” meaning “old,” and “zōé (ζωή),” meaning “life,” hence the title of this piece.

The periods: Precambrian - Everything before the Paleozoic. Mostly inhabited by single cellular organisms.

Cambrian/Ordovician - Marked by the Cambrian Explosion, a rapid diversification of multicellular life Silurian - First vascular land plants Devonain - When our ancestor, a fish called the Tiktaalik, first came to land Carboniferous - The appearance of giant trees, leading to giant arthropods Permian - When our ancestors, the Synapsids, ruled the earth Permian Extinction - The greatest mass extinction in Earth’s history

Program Notes Forever - is composed of Nows Written in 1862, “Forever – is composed of Nows” is one of Emily Dickinson’s most recognizable and well-known poems. Despite being only three stanzas long, the work makes note of the infinite and vast nature of the passage of time. In Dickinson’s eye’s, forever is happening right now; there is no past or future, but instead, the small moments of the present that form eternity. Nearly 150 years later, Dickinson’s words still resonate with readers, myself included. While I am not the first to set this text and I certainly won’t be the last, I was drawn to this idea that our lifetimes are built upon what we experience in the present moment, and that the infinite scope of time means nothing if we don’t take advantage of those moments.

This semester, as I (and many other students) have transitioned back into in person learning after having a year and a half of my life completely derailed by a global pandemic, it has been all too easy to feel as if we are in a race against time to make up for the moments we have lost. Yet, there truly is no time like the present, and throughout the course of this semester, I have come to realize the importance of the current moment as it is, not merely as a means to make up for the year and a half that I considered “lost”. This piece is my attempt to be a reflection of that.

Program Notes

Metamorphoses Metamorphoses is inspired by the 8 AD Latin narrative poem by Roman poet Ovid of the same name, and the lyrics are drawn from the first few lines of the first page. Despite my piece only using a few of the lines however, the original was a series of 15 books, all depicting the overarching and thoroughly weaved story of different mythological gods, characters, and events. I had originally seen an abridged play production of just a few of the different chapters, rewritten for a modern audience, and was curious to see what the whole work looked like. However, I was just drawn to the first few lines, as they were somewhat personified as the author Ovid himself speaking to the gods as he prepares to give their story.

Below are the first few lines of Ovid’s work, as well as the lyrics of my piece, accompanied by an English translation.

In nova fert animus mutatas dicere

My mind is bent to tell of bodies changed into new forms. Ye gods, formas corpora ; di, coeptis (nam for you yourselves have wrought the changes, breathe on these my undervos mutastis et illas) adspirate meis takings, and bring down my song in unbroken strains from the world’s primaque ab origine mundi ad mea very beginning even unto the present perpetuum deducite tempora carmen! time.

Metamorphosis means “a transformation or dramatic change,” so I wished to show that within the techniques on display. Such things include mixed meter, or modal structures that all base themselves around a cyclical, repeating form to give the feeling of transformation as the piece goes along, changing from one idea to the next.

Nature’s Serenade

Program Notes

In the fall of 2019, I was working on a setting of Walt Whitman’s A Noiseless Patient Spider.

I had started a very simple melodic sketch for the first verse of this poem, which I intended to set for high voice and piano. For various reasons, this sketch was left forgotten and no further progress was made on this song until two years later, the fall of 2021. It was around this time that I had recalled that Rose Dickson had mentioned wanting to collaborate with me before. I knew I wanted to write a song cycle with multiple movements and chamber ensemble but just needed to find a text that would fit her voice. Upon searching through volumes of poetry I once again found that poem I had begun setting two years ago. I had found my poem and finally decided to finish that setting of said poem. I now just needed to find a poem that would have logical coherence with my other poem. While looking through the original sketches I also happened to find a list of poems I was considering for the song I planned to write in that fall of 2019. On this list happened to be Frost’s The Oven Bird.

It was thus that I had finally decided on the texts I would use and chose for it to be a cycle for soprano and tenor. It was in this way that sketches and ideas from two years ago actually became a finished piece and no longer just a sketch hidden somewhere forgotten.

In the end I decided to compose for an ensemble consisting of Baroque period instruments due to my personal love for said music and instruments. It is a rare opportunity that a composer actually be able to write for said instruments and I instantly took said opportunity.

Since these instruments are not usually discussed in traditional orchestration curriculum, I had to reach out to the performers for advice and ask them about said instruments. Therefore, I would like to thank Phoenix Farris, Reese Romero, and Jude Markel for taking time and dealing with my questions along with giving me advice that allowed me to write this piece.

I. The Oven Bird The first movement has a repetitive ostinato throughout that consists of the actual bird song.

The oven bird actually has a fairly simple song and this formed an interesting musical foundation to build a beautiful lyrical melody over. The song opens with a very happy and light feeling before transitioning into a moment of realization and melancholy throughout that leads to the final inconclusive question: What do we make of a diminished thing?

There is a singer everyone has heard, Loud, a mid-summer and a mid-wood bird, Who makes the solid tree trunks sound again.

He says that leaves are old and that for flowers Mid-summer is to spring as one to ten.

He says the early petal-fall is past When pear and cherry bloom went down in showers On sunny days a moment overcast; And comes that other fall we name the fall.

He says the highway dust is over all.

The bird would cease and be as other birds But that he knows in singing not to sing.

The question that he frames in all but words Is what to make of a diminished thing.

- Robert Frost

Program Notes II. A Noiseless Patient Spider The song that started the process for composing this cycle was based on my original sketch and expanded to include the second verse. In the midst of the very sparse accompaniment the soprano has the chance to demonstrate the ability of the human voice to tell stories through music and a chance for the voice to shine through which allows for this song to be a vehicle for lyricism and expressivity.

A noiseless patient spider, I mark’d where on a little promontory it stood isolated, Mark’d how to explore the vacant vast surrounding, It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself, Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you O my soul where you stand, Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space, Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them, Till the bridge you will need be form’d, till the ductile anchor hold, Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.

—Walt Whitman Catch and Release “Catch and Release” is a piece for woodwind quintet, written in the fall of 2021. The piece is divided into two primary sections: the first half depicts the haphazard switches between a peaceful life free of worry and a chaotic escapade; the second is a slow build of intensity and drama. Both halves work together to show the nature of a topsy-turvy adventure—as the title suggests, this could be something like catching a fish (or being a fish). The piece uses the differences and similarities of the five instruments it features. All five are nearly always running their own courses, rather than blending uniformly; still, they work together by sharing similar themes and swapping melodies between themselves.

Odyssey to Nowhere “Your diamonds are not in far distant mountains or in yonder seas.

They are in your own backyard if you but dig for them.”

- Reverend Russell Conwell Exploration does not have any direct correlation to far travels; One does not need to partake on an everlasting trek in order to find what they seek; one may find that they can simply look no further than what is bestowed directly in front of them.

If one commits themselves to any form of a thing, there is much exploration to be done within the contents at their current disposal.

An odyssey to many places — without taking a single step! music.pacific.edu

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UPCOMING CONSERVATORY EVENTS Dec. 1| 7:30pm Trio 180 Recital Hall Dec. 3 | 1pm Fall Conservatory Concert Hour Faye Spanos Concert Hall

Dec. 3 | 7:30pm Pacific Choral Ensembles Holiday Concert Recital Hall

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