SENIOR COMPOSITION RECITAL
Leonard Cox
Performers are listed inside the program.
Saturday, April 14, 2024 2:30 pm
Faye Spanos Concert Hall
APRIL 14, 2024, 2:30 PM
Fifteen-minute intro by the composer
Leonard RR Cox (b. 2001)
4 and 3 Dirt
Robin Bisho, Robert Carl, Matthew Kulm, percussion
Memento Mori (short film)
Going Home
Skylar Warren, Mary Denney, Don Parker, horns
Emma Young, Lizzie Mendoza, violins
Hasina Torres, cello
Robin Bisho, vibraphone
Ethan Cisneros, piano
University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law (documentary)
Bridget
Cox
Ethan Cisneros (b. 2002) orch. Skylar Warren
The News—The Car—The Crying Phone—The Blank Stare—The Gate
Riko Hirata, flute; Audrey Ewing, clarinet; Jordan Wier, bassoon
Skylar Warren, Mary Denney, Don Parker, horns
Paker Deems, Yukina Shimokawa, trumpets
Mathew Miramontes, trombone; Alejandro Villalobos, tuba
Emma Young, Lizzie Mendoza, violins
Abby Van de Water, Ealaph Tabbaa, violas
Hasina Torres, cello; Logan Adams, bass
Ethan Cisneros, piano; Robin Bisho, vibraphone
Skylar Warren, conductor
Fifteen-minute outro by the composer
PROGRAM NOTES
This recital is presented as a degree requirement for a Bachelor of Music in Music Composition.
Leonard RR Cox is a composer and multiinstrumentalist known for his full, dramatic, and unique approach to sound. At University of the Pacific he is pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree in music composition under Andrew Conklin.
Cox wrote his first film score for Impulso which won awards at the San Francisco Indie Short Festival and the Chicago Indie Film Awards. He was also hired to score a full-length feature film, a video game, and USC short films with such well known Hollywood names as Skylar Gisondo, Caleb Foote, and Steve Sobel. After graduating, Cox will be based in Los Angeles continuing his career in film and game music.
Notes by the Composer
4 and 3 Dirt
4 and 3 Dirt was a little hint to my time back in my percussion ensemble in high school. We always had so much fun together and were crazy and reckless together, similar to that of the ending of the piece, looking in from the teacher's point of view on us crazy students being CrAzY. 4 and 3 is in the name as well, as you will hear MANY four against three rhythms, phrases, and sequences.
Memento Mori
I was so fortunate to get hired on for this University of Southern California (USC) short film. Not only was I able to create new sounds and music I called the “whale tone,” but to get the opportunity to work with such a great cast will forever feel like a dream come true. Much thanks to the producers, director, and actors for letting me into the USC film world.
Going Home
Growing up, all I wanted to do was go off and leave the house to do my own adventures. But of course, I learned very quickly once I did leave, “home” became the place I longed for the most (conveyed in the solo cello). This piece is simple, warm, and beautiful just like home.
University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law
Another wonderful opportunity given to me and my co-composer Ethan Cisneros, thanks to University of the Pacific's law school. Ethan and I were really able to get the chance to create our own score for this, which literally never happens in this industry, if you didn't know, so it was a wonderful experience to work in such a free space.
Bridget
Bridget Kirby was one of the five members of “The Tribe,” a friend group that I was so lucky to be a part of in Spokane, Washington, where I grew up. We all went to Ferris High School and hung out every moment of every day, it seemed, and each second felt like we were the only five people in the entire world. (We even buried a time capsule at the top of some hill filled with weird stuff that meant something to us, as The Tribe, which I will never forget.) Fast forward to November 20, 2021, when I got the worst phone call that anyone can really ever receive—Bridget had died in a car accident. After going through all the stages of grief and some more pain, I was able to appreciate Bridget's life, to celebrate it, and truly love it. At this stage, on a LONG train ride to LA, I started writing Bridget for orchestra.
There are five main sections, motifs if you will, that you will hear in this piece, each a section of a part of her death and her transition to Heaven.
1. The News
2. The Car
3. The Crying Phone
4. The Blank Stare
5. The Gate
I urge you to listen to each instrument, specifically in percussion, and feel the symbolic decisions that were made to create the atmosphere of each story. Please enjoy Bridget.
music.pacific.edu