Composers Concert, 5/3/22

Pacific Composers: Spring Premieres Tuesday I May 3, 2022 Recital Hall

I 7:30 pm

Featured Composers: Mateus Barioni, Wyatt Cannon, Jane Damon, Mary Denney, Logan Feece, Jordan Hendrickson, Gerardo Lopez, Mark T. Loya, Michael Robertson, Ealaph Tabbaa, Mason Weillie Featured Performer: Diego Bustamante, piano Andrew Conklin, Composition Program Director

104th Performance I 2021–22 Academic Year I Conservatory of Music I University of the Pacific

CONCERT PROGRAM I MAY 3, 2022 I 7:30 PM

Seek, and You Shall Find (2022)

Wyatt Cannon ‘22

Natalie Kowalski, flute; Apollo Parish Mitchell, oboe; Edgard Gonzales, clarinet; Reese Romero, horn; Ella Hebrard, bassoon

Passages for Four Horns (2022)

Mary Denney ‘24

I. Fanfare II. Echoes Jada Ramos, Reese Romero, Braydon Ross, and Skylar Warren, horn

Tangent (2022)

Jane Damon ‘24

Mark T. Loya, flute; Glenn Adcock, oboe; Vanessa Lopez, clarinet; Jada Ramos, horn; Tyler Van Zuiden, bassoon

Dreams Never Chased (2022)

Michael Robertson ‘24

Nicole Ikeda, soprano; Braydon Ross, horn; Joseph Kruse, piano

Still There (2022)

Ealaph Tabbaa ‘23

Charlotte Han and Emma Northcutt, violin; Sam Tse, viola; Hasina Torres, cello; Jun Lee, piano

Intermission

CONCERT PROGRAM I MAY 3, 2022 I 7:30 PM Falling Leaves (2022)

Jordan Hendrickson ‘25

Aubrey Williams and Liam Shaughnessy, violin; Abby Van Der Water, viola; Bailey La Brie, cello; Jude Markel, piano; Braydon Ross, conductor The Sandwich Sandwich (2022)

Logan Feece ‘23

Fuga Scherzata (2022)

Gerardo Lopez ‘23

Meggy Spletzer’s Theme (2022)

Mason Weillie ‘22

Standing in Awe (2022)

Mateus Barioni ‘23

To Serenity’s Graceful Despair (2022)

Mark T. Loya ‘23

Diego Bustamante, piano

Seek, and You Shall Find, by Wyatt Cannon When I was younger, I used to believe that the mysteries of the universe could be fully understood through science. If you could know everything, you would be able to grasp exactly why we are here, what our purpose in the universe is, and ultimately absolute “Truth”. Now that I have grown, I understand that this is not how the world works. There is no “Truth”, only multiple truths that we understand subjectively, and most importantly, that change as we move through our lives. “Seek, and You shall Find” reflects this sentiment, as well as my growth in this regard. It initiates with a somewhat stoic and reserved contrapuntal phrase and gradually devolves into a much more emotionally fluid state. The piece appears to be moving toward cadences but never fully resolves, remarking that there are no universal answers in our lives.

Passages for Four Horns, by Mary Denney Passages for Four Horns was written over the course of this semester while I began taking private horn lessons for the first time. While I have been playing horn since I was twelve, I had never had the opportunity to take private lessons until I got to college, and I found myself growing closer to this instrument than I ever had before. This piece is written in two short movements, one fast and one slow, that share some harmonic material, and is a result of all of the knowledge about this instrument I have gained over just a short period of time, and takes inspiration from classical film scores, where the horn is a central texture and inspired me to play the instrument in the first place.

Program Notes Tangent, by Jane Damon My piece, Tangent, in tune with its name, is a bit of a sidestep from what I as a composer typically write, primarily when it comes to the instrumentation chosen. I am a cellist, and working in the woodwind and brass world has been quite challenging for me, but I wanted to take on the challenge in order to better understand these instruments in case I were able to write for them later on in my life. As for the notes themselves, they often pivot between legato and staccato playing, or long and short notes, to express the constantly diverging topic at hand. However, with that said, I wanted to make sure this piece didn’t dictate an argument between the supposed speakers, so the piece is kept floating around a major key, while keeping an energetic peppiness even in its slower moments. Even if there are some slightly serious bits, the whole process is meant to feel a little silly and nonsensical, like a group of friends who can’t stop giving their own anecdotal experiences of working in customer service over the years. It is autological in that way, in that the piece is a definition of its own title.

Speaking of tangents, did you know that the word tangent comes from the geometrical term? This is where a straight line is just barely touching another curved line, but does not move through it, thus giving the effect of it branching off to a new path. That was later applied to mean branching off onto a different train of thought as well, creating the word we know today.

Program Notes Dreams Never Chased, by Michael Robertson When someone spends so much time in their own head, imagining what could be, lost in a fantasy, that can take a toll. One has to live in the real world, not possibilities. And yet, if those dreams can’t be part of one’s life, then doesn’t that life lack something? That’s what this song is about. The music is written to reflect the lyrics in its tone and themes, describing the story of this child whose unspecified dreams are never realized.

Text - by Michael Robertson A child lives a life A common worldly life And they rarely see it vary The child wishes they could shape their life But the thought, it makes them wary And so their thoughts turn to dreams Dreams of grand adventures, of fame and fortune Of love, and of friendship Of all heart’s desire fulfilled A dream that may hold true A child dreams a dream, in a lucid state Whether by the moon or sunlit A child dreams a dream, they intend to chase Thinking they will realize it As they lose themself within While their head is in the clouds Their feet are rooted firmly to the ground So far away from where they are And stretched, like string, so far they can not bend A child dreams a dream, that they do embrace And they have forgot its meaning A child dreams a dream, never to be chased For their thoughts are busy dreaming And the mind becomes a cage The common worldly life remains untended And it begins to fall apart And with nothing to replace it The thought, it makes them wary The dream it is a burden They realize, their thoughts are split apart A child dreamt a dream that was never chased And now it is forgotten The child lives their life, nothing to divert But it always seems there’s something missing What is it that’s missing?

What is it?

Program Notes Still There, by Ealaph Tabbaa This piece takes a very absolute approach where I had no specific imagery or story in mind. Instead I wanted to evoke feelings of melancholy and nostalgia.

Through the contrasting sections I hope to have painted different emotional ideas.

Falling Leaves, by Jordan Hendrickson Falling Leaves is a score for the 1912 silent film of the same title, directed by Alice Guy-Blaché. The film tells the story of Trixie, a young child who, upon learning of her sister Winifred’s tuberculosis diagnosis, sets out on a mission to save her sister. Having heard that Winifred will pass “when the last leaf falls,” Trixie decides she must prevent the leaves from falling in order to save her sister. The composition is designed to accompany the film, following the twists and turns of its narrative. It uses a repeated motif to represent the sisters’ bond, as well as Trixie’s determination to save Winifred.

Fuga Scherzata, by Gerardo Lopez The piece is a fugue which makes use of the twelve-tone system in order to derive the pitch material for both the main subject and the counterpoint.

The prime form of the row is : C–G-flat –E-flat—A—G—A-flat—B-flat—Dflat—F—D—B. This form is heard from the opening of the piece. This is then followed by an inversion of said row. This formed the motivic basis of the piece. The original intention was actually to write out a little scherzo using the row and the opening few bars to function as the primary motif.

However, following the addition of some counterpoint against the opening motif I had established the framework for a twelve-tone fugue. This is not necessarily my first time as a composer venturing into either the world of fugue or twelve-tone but never before had I actually managed to merge the two.

This fugue opens with what is a rather light little theme that goes by quickly before going through various transformations and being developed in various ways contrapuntally. These moments are frequently interrupted by little sections which shift the mood slightly before leading back into another presentation of the subject and proceeding on contrapuntally as if nothing had happened. In the end the row and the motif is used and developed in just about any way imaginable before closing off with a showy and virtuosic piano cadenza that is derived from the row itself and closes off with a few final presentations of the opening melodic idea.

Program Notes Meggy Spletzer’s Theme, by Mason Weillie Meggy Spletzer’s Theme is a piece dedicated to the character, Meggy Spletzer, from the SMG4/Super Mario parody web series. Meggy is a very energetic girl who has a love for sports and adventure, and also cares deeply for her friends that support her. This piece was written to express certain character traits of Meggy’s personality, as it seems like an actual theme for her may not have been written before. The piece was also written as a miniature suite that expresses some of Meggy’s personality traits, such as her friendliness, independence, athleticism, and her soft, caring side. I have tried to portray moments where she’s having fun with her friends and when she mourns the loss of a long-time friend; and as a result, the beginning of the piece reflects Meggy’s independence and high-spirited nature, while the middle portion portrays her soft side with some melancholy before the happy-go-lucky motif from the beginning repeats for a final time near the end to depict that Meggy perseveres through even the toughest situations, and never gives up.

To Serenity’s Graceful Despair: by Mark T. Loya Fate is a perplexing entity by design: at times fair, at times diabolical — of course all of this is in relation to our very own microcosmic viewpoints within our own journey in the grand scheme of all things.

Fate, rather shifting in nature, is often misunderstood as we strive to be the best versions of ourselves. We are fated to succeed and fail in our lives: both of those outcomes result in us becoming better beings in the ultimate fight for our personal end goals. With an open mind and a strong willpower, one will always find victory in defeat even in our darkest moments.

This piece depicts an individual in an immense state of turmoil as they struggle to understand Fate’s design and nature, ultimately resulting in a never-ending, seamless, paradoxical spiral into despair. With enough time and consistency down this dark path, they wrngly find an absolute, serene comfort in the idea that it is their sealed fate to perish.

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