Catherine Likhuta
guest composer
Performers are listed inside the program.
Thursday, September 26, 2024
7:30 pm
Recital Hall
Rondo (2001/2017) Catherine Likhuta (b. 1981)
Jonathan Latta, marimba
Matthew Kulm, vibraphone
Long Journey from Planet Zeno (2024)
Don Parker, Jada Ramos, Owen Sheridan and Skylar Warren, horns
Sadie Glass, coach
Hard to Argue (2015)
Ricardo Martinez and Ves Turk, alto saxophones
Tristan McMichael, tenor saxophone
Marcus Rudes, baritone saxophone
Ricardo Martinez, coach
Apex Predators (2015)
Kamron Qasimi and Yukina Shimokawa, trumpets
Skylar Warren, horn
Bronson Burfield, trombone
Alejandro Villalobos, tuba
Leonard Ott, coach
Special Someone (2020)
Jayden Laumeister, oboe
Jordan Wier, bassoon
Kathryn Schulmeister, coach
Snapshots (2014)
Me disagrees (2010)
Tristan McMichael, tenor saxophone
Sonia Leong, piano
Brittany Trotter, flute
Ricardo Martinez, alto saxophone
Sonia Leong, piano
PROGRAM NOTES
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. Likhuta’s pieces have been played extensively around the world, including highly prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall (Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage), Glyndebourne Opera House (Organ Room), Meyerson Symphony Center, and several International Horn Symposiums and World Saxophone Congresses, as well as many festivals and conferences.
Likhuta's works have been commissioned and performed by prominent symphony orchestras (such as Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, The Ohio State University Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestra of the National Radio of Ukraine), chamber ensembles (such as Chicago Symphony Orchestra Brass Quintet, Atlantic Brass Quintet, Ensemble Q, ICE, Lyrebird Brass, NU CORNO, and U.S. Army Field Band Horns), and soloists (including former presidents of the North American Saxophone Alliance Griffin Campbell and the International Horn Society Andrew Pelletier). Catherine has held residencies at Tyalgum Music Festival, North Carolina NewMusic Initiative, University of Missouri Kansas City, University of Georgia, The Ohio State University, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Cornell University, Syracuse University, and other institutions.
Likhuta is a two-time winner of the International Horn Society Composition Contest (virtuoso division) and a recipient of several awards, including two grants from the Australia Council for the Arts. Her music can be heard on Albany, Cala, Common Tone, Equilibrium, Mark, and Summit Records. Horn virtuosa Denise Tryon’s album Hope Springs Eternal featuring Likhuta’s piece Vivid Dreams was awarded the 2022 American Prize in Instrumental Performance.
Notes
by the composer
Long Journey from Planet Zeno
Long Journey from Planet Zeno was commissioned by and dedicated to my dear friend Nancy Joy, for the world premiere at the International Women Brass Conference 2024. This is my 27th work for horn, but my first ever horn quartet. The story behind the music in this piece is deeply sentimental and holds a special place in my heart. My life's journey—beginning in Ukraine, continuing through a decade in the United States, and now spanning over twelve years in Australia—has blessed me with dear friends scattered across the globe. I tour my music in the U.S. several times a year, meeting countless remarkable individuals along the way. With some of them, the connections that form can be instant and very deep. Due to the nature of these travels, saying goodbye is almost always inevitable and very difficult at times. In one particular instance very recently, I have made a friend who felt like a soulmate. The connection was as if we both traveled to Earth from a different planet and found each other here. Long Journey from Planet Zeno is a sweet little musical story about two dear friends being on a journey to reunite with each other and then never letting go.
Hard to Argue
It is very hard to argue with my husband. Don’t get me wrong: he is not at all a conflicting person. He would never be the one to initiate a dispute, and he usually comes up with elegant solutions to evade confrontations (for example, putting a continent between himself and his mother). I personally never argue with him but get a chance to observe his debates with others (such as, once again, his mother). He never yells or turns aggressive or sarcastic. Sometimes, he is playful and light-hearted in the heat of an argument. Other times, he is patient and steady in proving his point. Whatever his methods, he usually leaves his opponents with the realization that their reasoning has been shattered by a few effortlessly expressed dead-on points. There came a moment when I decided it’s time to stop being merely an observer. Instead, I tried to get inside the process, that is, to musically anticipate, reflect on and further develop emotions that arise in the heat of an argument, as well as during its initiation. In my husband’s case, it almost always unfolds as a play, really, and should be classified as a new art form.
PROGRAM NOTES
Apex Predators
Apex predators are the creatures residing at the top of food chains (sharks, saltwater crocodiles, giant snakes, and alike). They are powerful killing machines, whose sole purpose in life is to commit despicable crimes on a daily basis, without any punishment. They barge in on the habitats of the weaker ones and bring massive destruction and terror. They deserve to be hated but also respected. We are disgusted and terrified by them, while admitting that they are also strangely enthralling. . . They are fascinating to watch (on a TV documentary only!) while extremely repulsive, gracious while heavy. Their desires and emotions are rather primitive, but nature granted them with the most complex physiology and preying mechanisms to assist in the satisfaction of those desires. Every ecosystem on the planet relies on its apex predators for holding things in balance; therefore, we should be thankful for their contribution. But to me, they are a merciless bunch of gangsters who never fail to terrorize and claim their confident victory.
Me Disagrees
Why Me Disagrees? My intention was to write a piece that would depict an argument that is not overly aggressive. Instead, it is to be playfully competitive, even somewhat humorous at times. ‘I Disagree’ is a strong statement, which wouldn't reflect the lighthearted spirit of the original idea. So I decided to make it sound like something a naughty child might say to defy authority: ‘Me Disagrees! End of story.’
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