UNIVERSITY CONCERT BAND AND SYMPHONIC WIND ENSEMBLE Saturday I November 9, 2019 I 7:30 pm Faye Spanos Concert Hall
UNIVERSITY CONCERT BAND Nico Peruzzi I graduate assistant conductor Brad Hart I guest conductor SYMPHONIC WIND ENSEMBLE Cynthia Johnston Turner I guest conductor
25th Performance I 2019-2020 Academic Year I Conservatory of Music I University of the Pacific
CONCERT PROGRAM
I
NOVEMBER 9, 2019
I
7:30 PM
University Concert Band Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
English Folk Song Suite I. March II. Intermezzo III. March Brad Hart, conductor
Eric Whitacre (b. 1970)
The Seal Lullaby Nico Peruzzi, conductor
Jennifer Jolley (b. 1981)
Lichtweg (Lightway) Nico Peruzzi, conductor
Samuel Hazo (b. 1966)
Ride Nico Peruzzi, conductor
Intermission
Symphonic Wind Ensemble Cynthia Johnston Turner, conductor Shoutout (2009)
Of Our New Day Begun (2015)
Sheltering Sky (2012)
Moth (2013)
Rohsanne Etezady (b. 1973) Omar Thomas (b. 1984) John Mackey (b. 1973) Viet Cuong (b. 1990)
PACIFIC BANDS Whether serving academic and professional training, supporting Tiger athletics, or entertaining at University functions, Pacific Bands have always played an integral role at University of the Pacific. Over 130 students representing 12 states, 16 academic majors, and six schools or colleges within the University, participate in the Pacific Bands. The program’s rich history and vibrant future are dedicated to continued growth, service, and a uniquely powerful “esprit de corps” that reflect the University’s commitment to topflight, student-centered education. UNIVERSITY CONCERT BAND
Literature for the University Concert Band comes from contemporary, transcription, and standard band repertory. Performances include music from light classics to show tunes. The band performs on-campus each semester and also hosts concerts shared with local high schools. Membership is open to all Pacific students.
Musicians Listed Alphabetically
Flute Jessica Benach Ashley Bonfoey Sean Briones Kassandra Diaz Logan Feece Autumn Hill Marcus Loya Miranda Morse Clarinet Alexandra Annen Mitchell Beck Rachel Dolan Zachary Grenig Gerardo Lopez
Emily McGann Deborah Mitzman, bass Oboe Raquel Johnson Saxophone Ethan Davis Eric Espinoza Theresa Huynh Krystle Kong Michael Solis Trevor Trinity-Rees Trumpet Ryan Abdelmalek Caleb Bonilla
Ashli Dass Jenna Diebert Michael Dubie Kevin Hee Julia Murillo Brenna Myers Gabrielle Nguyen Daniel Roh Curtiss Wright French Horn Rachel Ticas Trombone Sophia Dew Hiersoux Jeremy Sigl
Charles Tuttle Tim Widjaja Euphonium Keon MacKay Justin Villanueva Tuba Domenic Jimenez Stephen Lambert Percussion Kyle Bossert Ian Higa Sean Mitchell Ben Nguyen Emily Winsatt
PACIFIC BANDS SYMPHONIC WIND ENSEMBLE
The Symphonic Wind Ensemble is comprised of experienced wind, brass and percussion students. Repertoire is drawn from the standards for concert band including Hindemith’s Symphony in Bb and Grainger’s Lincolnshire Posy as well as transcriptions and the great wealth of contemporary music for wind ensemble. Participation in the ensemble is open to all Pacific students by audition. The Symphonic Wind Ensemble plays on campus and travels extensively, performing recently at the California All State Music Education Conference and the Western International Band Clinic in Seattle. The ensemble recorded their second album at the famed Skywalker Ranch Studios in 2013. In March 2019, SWE performed at Stanford and in New York City’s Carnegie Hall. Musicians Listed Alphabetically
Flute Diana Ayala Kalea Bringas Alicia Correia Monica Mendoza Lexi Obregon Oboe Alelih Galvadores Amelia Nish Clarinet Michaela Aimone Byron Ayala Edgard Gonzales, bass Alice Park Marcus Romero Richard Shin Ashlynn Sima Molly Westlake Bassoon Ella Hebrard Dorian Jones Cassi Parker-Swenson
Saxophone Mitchell Beck Michael De Lashmutt Arturo Garcia Zachary Grenig Kyle Lesh Matthew Loya Bryan Mah James Scott Trumpet Peter Altamura Jack Chivers Thomas Hubel Kevin Iwai Andrew Marcopulos Cristina O’Brien Shane Ryan Horn Wren Buse Emily Corgiat Olivia Gideon Reese Romero Braydon Ross
Euphonia Brooke Farrar Joshua Lopez Trombone Felix Diaz-Contreras Joshua Dunsford Rebecca Growcott Nico Peruzzi Tuba Andrew Davis Robert Huntington String Bass Trinitie Wood Percussion Kyle Bossert Jonathan Herbers Lok Man Vincent Lei Craig Robinson Samantha Sanchez Ravyn Stanford Piano Jude Markel
CONDUCTORS Brad Hart is currently the Instrumental Music Teacher at Johansen High School in Modesto, CA. He also serves as the Visual and Performing Arts Department Chair, the Modesto City Schools High School Music Chairperson, President of the Stanislaus County Music Educators Association, and President of the New Hammer Concert Band. Mr. Hart has led his ensembles through various commissions and special projects. The program at Johansen has established itself as active members of their community by organizing multiple events that both bring the music to their neighborhood and provide support to local organizations. Hart has also spent time serving as a guest lecturer for the Modesto Symphony and taught at CSU Stanislaus. Aside from teaching music, he is a published composer with World Projects. His most recent works are Symphony No. 1, Slamming Open the Door. Nico Peruzzi is a graduate student at University of the Pacific’s Conservatory of Music. In summer of 2018, he received a bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Pacific and he currently serves as a graduate assistant for the Pacific Bands. In addition to his work with University Concert Band, he plays euphonium in Pacific’s Symphonic Wind Ensemble and directs the orchestra for Pacific Heavy Ensemble. Outside of his studies, he teaches private lessons and works as a visual instructor for the marching band and indoor drumline at Dublin High School. After completing his master’s studies, he hopes to teach band in the Northern California area. Cynthia Johnston Turner is in demand as a conductor, ensemble clinician and speaker in the United States, Australia, Latin America, Europe and Canada. Before her appointment at the Hodgson School at the University of Georgia, Cynthia was Director of Wind Ensembles at Cornell University. Earlier in her career Cynthia was a high school music educator, taught middle school beginning instrumental music in Toronto and choral music in Switzerland. She currently serves as a conductor with the Syracuse Society of New Music, the Austrian Festival Orchestra, and the Paris Lodron Ensemble in Salzburg. A Canadian, Cynthia completed her Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Education degrees at Queens University and her Master of Music in music education and conducting at the University of Victoria. Touring with her ensembles inspired her Master’s thesis on the musical and personal transformations that occur on tours, and her DMA thesis at the Eastman School of Music centered on the music of William Kraft,
CONDUCTORS one of this generation’s leading composers. At Eastman, Cynthia was the recipient of the prestigious teaching award in conducting. She received the National Leadership in Education Award (Canada), the Excellence in Education Award (Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation) and the Marion Drysdale Leadership Award (also from OSSTF). She is also the recipient of the Donald A. Reick Memorial Award for research with wearable technologies and music pedagogy and the American Prize for innovative programming with wind bands. Cynthia has commissioned numerous new works for wind band and orchestra, and she continues to actively promote commissions by today’s leading and emerging composers around the world. Under her direction, the Cornell Wind Ensemble was invited to perform at the College Band Directors National Association’s Eastern Division Conference in 2007 and 2012. In 2008, the Merrill Presidential Scholars at Cornell recognized Cynthia as an outstanding educator. In 2009, she was awarded the Kaplan Family Distinguished Faculty Fellowship. Her performances have been praised by such composers as Steven Stucky, William Kraft, Steven Bryant, Marc Mellits, Eddie Mora, Dana Wilson, Roberto Sierra, Jesse Jones and Karel Husa. From January 2006, Cynthia led the Cornell Wind Ensemble on biennial performing and service tours to Costa Rica that included performances across the country, conducting master classes with Costa Rican teachers, instrument master classes for Costa Rican musicians, and the donation of over 250 instruments to music schools across the country. Among other recent engagements, Cynthia has guest conducted the National Youth Wind Ensemble of Great Britain, the Syracuse Symphony (“Symphoria”), the National Youth Band of Canada, Concordia Santa Fe, the Ithaca College Wind Ensemble, the Eastman Wind Ensemble, the Latin American Honor Band, the National Band of Costa Rica, the National Orchestra of Heredia, and numerous state honor bands. Cynthia has been invited to present her research with teaching and technology, innovative rehearsal techniques, and service-learning and music performance at numerous conferences nationally and internationally. She is published in such journals as Music Educators Journal, Interdisciplinary Humanities, International Journal of the Humanities, Journal of the World Association of Bands and Ensembles, Fanfare Magazine, and Canadian Winds, and has recorded CDs with the Innova and Albany labels. Cynthia serves as a board member with WASBE, and is an active member of CDBNA, Conductor’s Guild, College Music Society, Humanities Education and Research Association, the National Association for Music Education, and National Band Association. As Director of Bands and Professor of Music at the Hodgson School, Cynthia conducts the Wind Ensemble, teaches conducting, leads the MM and DMA programs in conducting, and oversees the entire Hodgson band program.
PROGRAM NOTES Roshanne Etezady (b. 1973) As a young musician, Roshanne studied piano and flute, and developed an interest in many different styles of music, from the musicals of Steven Sondheim to the 1980’s power ballads and Europop of her teenage years. One fateful evening in 1986, she saw Philip Glass and his ensemble perform as the musical guests on Saturday Night Live. This event marked the beginning of her interest in contemporary classical music, as well as her interest in being a composer herself. Since then, Etezady’s works have been commissioned by the Albany Symphony, Dartmouth Symphony, eighth blackbird, Music at the Anthology, and the PRISM Saxophone Quartet. She has been a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. Performers and ensembles including Rêlache, Amadinda Percussion Ensemble, Ensemble De Ereprijs, and the Dogs of Desire have performed Etezady’s music throughout the United States and Europe. Etezady’s music has earned recognition from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Korean Society of 21st Century Music, the Jacob K. Javits Foundation, Meet the Composer, and ASCAP. An active teacher, Etezady has taught at the Interlochen Arts Camp, Yale University, Saint Mary’s College, and the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. She has given master classes at Holy Cross College, the Juilliard School, and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. Etezady holds academic degrees from Northwestern University and Yale University, and she has worked intensively with numerous composers, including William Bolcom, Martin Bresnick, Michael Daugherty, and Ned Rorem. She completed her doctorate at the University of Michigan in March 2005. Shoutout According to the composer, Shoutout, a rich and vibrant opening fanfare, signals good things to come. The prominent motive in the piece, two quick staccato notes, mimics the articulation of the word “shoutout.” The piece is organized into three main sections: an opening section that features the main motive above constant background chatter, a calmer section with solo lines and rolling piano figures, and an energetic “dance” with a hard groove. The piece ends with a spirited call of the “shoutout” motive. The premiere performance of Shoutout was given by Gary Hill and the Arizona State University Wind Ensemble in 2009. -Program note by Lindsay Bronnenkant
PROGRAM NOTES Omar Thomas (b. 1984) Described as “elegant, beautiful, sophisticated, intense, and crystal clear in emotional intent,” the music of Omar Thomas continues to move listeners everywhere. Born to Guyanese parents in Brooklyn, New York, in 1984, Omar moved to Boston in 2006 to pursue a Master of Music in Jazz Composition at the New England Conservatory of Music. He is the protégé of lauded composers and educators Ken Schaphorst and Frank Carlberg, and has studied under multiple Grammy-winning composer and band leader Maria Schneider. Hailed by Herbie Hancock as showing “great promise as a new voice in the further development of jazz in the future,” educator, arranger, and award-winning composer Omar Thomas has created music extensively in the contemporary jazz ensemble idiom. It was while completing his Master of Music degree that he was appointed to the position of Assistant Professor of Harmony at Berklee College of Music at the surprisingly young age of 23. He was awarded the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award in 2008, and invited by the ASCAP Association to perform his music in their highly exclusive JaZzCap Showcase, held in New York City. In 2012, Omar was named the Boston Music Award’s “Jazz Artist of the Year.” He is currently on faculty in the Music Theory department at The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Omar’s music has been performed in concert halls the world over. He has been commissioned to create works in both jazz and classical styles. His work has been performed by such diverse groups as the Eastman New Jazz Ensemble, the San Francisco and Boston Gay Mens’ Choruses, and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, in addition to a number of the country’s top collegiate music ensembles. Omar has had a number of celebrated singers perform his arrangements, including Stephanie Mills, Yolanda Adams, Nona Hendryx, BeBe Winans, Kenny Lattimore, Marsha Ambrosius, Sheila E., Raul Midon, Leela James, Dionne Warwick, and Chaka Khan. His work is featured on Dianne Reeves’s Grammy Award-winning album, Beautiful Life. Omar’s first album, I AM, debuted at No. 1 on iTunes Jazz Charts and peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard Traditional Jazz Albums Chart. His second release, We Will Know: An LGBT Civil Rigths Piece in Four Movements, has been hailed by Grammy Award-wining drummer, composer, and producer Terri Lyne Carrington as being a “thought provoking, multi-layered masterpiece” which has “put him in the esteemed category of great artists.” We Will Know was awarded two OUTMusic Awards, including “Album of the Year.” For this work, Omar was named the 2014 Lavender Rhino Award recipient by The History Project, acknowledging his work as an up-and-coming activist in the Boston LGBTQ community. Says Terri Lyne: “Omar Thomas will prove to be one of the more important composer/arrangers of his time.”
PROGRAM NOTES Of Our New Day Begun Of Our New Day Begun was written to honor nine beautiful souls who lost their lives to a callous act of hatred and domestic terrorism on the evening of June 17, 2015 while worshiping in their beloved sanctuary, the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (affectionately referred to as “Mother Emanuel”) in Charleston, South Carolina. My greatest challenge in creating this work was walking the line between reverence for the victims and their families, and honoring my strong, bitter feelings towards both the perpetrator and the segments of our society that continue to create people like him. I realized that the most powerful musical expression I could offer incorporated elements from both sides of that line - embracing my pain and anger while being moved by the displays of grace and forgiveness demonstrated by the victims’ families. Historically, black Americans have, in great number, turned to the church to find refuge and grounding in the most trying of times. Thus, the musical themes and ideas for Of Our New Day Begun are rooted in the Black American church tradition. The piece is anchored by James and John Johnson’s time-honored song, Lift Every Voice and Sing (known endearingly as the Negro National Anthem), and peppered with blues harmonies and melodies. Singing, stomping and clapping are also prominent features of this work, as they have always been a mainstay of black music traditions, and the inclusion of the tambourine in these sections is a direct nod to black worship services. Of Our New Day Begun begins with a unison statement of a melodic cell from Lift Every Voice nd Sing before suddenly giving way to ghostly, bluesy chords in the horns and bassoons. This section moves to a dolorous and bitter dirge presentation of the anthem in irregularly shifting 12/8 and 6/8 meter, which grows in intensity as it offers fleeting glimmers of hope and relief answered by cries of bluesinspired licks. A maddening, ostinato-driven section representing a frustration and weariness that words cannot, grows into a group singing of Lift Every Voice and Sing, fueled by the stomping and clapping reminiscent of the black church. In the latter half of the piece the music turns hopeful, settling into 9/8 time and modulating up a step during its ascent to a glorious statement of the final lines of Lift Every Voice and Sing in 4/4, honoring the powerful display of humanity set forth by the families of the victims. There is a long and emotional decrescendo that lands on a pensive and cathartic gospel-inspired hymn song. Returning to 9/8 time, the piece comes to rest on a unison F that grows from a very distant hum to a thunderous roar, driven forward by march-like stomping to represent the ceaseless marching of black Americans towards equality. The consortium assembled to create this work is led by Dr. Gary Schallert and the Western Kentucky University Wind Ensemble. -Program note by composer
PROGRAM NOTES John Mackey (b. 1973) John Mackey has written for orchestras (Brooklyn Philharmonic, New York Youth Symphony), theater (Dallas Theater Center), and extensively for dance (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Parsons Dance Company, New York City Ballet), but the majority of his work for the past decade has been for wind ensembles (the fancy name for concert bands), and his band catalog now receives annual performances numbering in the thousands. Recent commissions include works for the BBC Singers, the Dallas Wind Symphony, military, high school, middle school, and university bands across America and Japan, and concertos for Joseph Alessi (principal trombone, New York Philharmonic) and Christopher Martin (principal trumpet, New York Philharmonic). In 2014, he became the youngest composer ever inducted into the American Bandmasters Association. In 2018, he received the Wladimir & Rhoda Lakond Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The wind band medium has, in the twenty-first century, a host of disparate styles that dominate its texture. At the core of its contemporary development exist a group of composers who dazzle with scintillating and frightening virtuosity. Sheltering Sky As such, at first listening one might experience John Mackey’s Sheltering Sky as a striking departure. Its serene and simple presentation is a throwback of sorts a nostalgic portrait of time suspended. The work itself has a folksong-like quality intended by the composer and through this an immediate sense of familiarity emerges. Certainly the repertoire has a long and proud tradition of weaving folk songs into its identity, from the days of Holst and Vaughan Williams to modern treatments by such figures as Donald Grantham and Frank Ticheli. Whereas these composers incorporated extant melodies into their works, however, Mackey takes a play from Percy Grainger. Grainger’s Colonial Song seemingly sets a beautiful folksong melody in an enchanting way (so enchanting, in fact, that he reworked the tune into two other pieces: Australian Up-Country Tune and The Gum-Suckers March). In reality, however, Grainger’s melody was entirely original, his own concoction to express how he felt about his native Australia. Likewise, although the melodies of Sheltering Sky have a recognizable quality (hints of the contours and colors of Danny Boy and Shenandoah are perceptible), the tunes themselves are original to the work, imparting a sense of hazy distance as though they were from a half-remembered dream. The work unfolds in a sweeping arch structure, with cascading phrases that elide effortlessly. The introduction presents softly articulated harmonies stacking through a surrounding placidity. From there emerge statements of each of the two folksong-like melodies: the call as a sighing descent in solo oboe, and its answer as a hopeful rising line in trumpet. Though the composer’s trademark virtuosity is absent, his harmonic language remains. Mackey avoids traditional triadic sonorities almost exclusively, instead choosing more indistinct chords with diatonic extensions (particularly seventh and ninth chords) that facilitate the hazy sonic world that the piece inhabits. Near cadences, chromatic dissonances
PROGRAM NOTES fill the narrow spaces in these harmonies, creating an even greater pull toward wistful nostalgia. Each new phrase begins over the resolution of the previous one, creating a sense of motion that never completely stops. The melodies themselves unfold and eventually dissipate until at last the serene introductory material returns and the opening chords finally coming to rest. - Program note by Jake Wallace Viet Cuong (b. 1990) Called “alluring” and “wildly inventive” by The New York Times, Viet Cuong’s music has been performed on six continents by a number of musicians including Sō Percussion, Eighth Blackbird, Alarm Will Sound, Sandbox Percussion, the PRISM Quartet, JACK Quartet, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Minnesota Orchestra, Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, and Albany Symphony, in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, and Midwest Clinic. Viet’s awards include the Barlow Endowment Commission, ASCAP Morton Gould Award, Copland House Residency Award, Suzanne and Lee Ettelson Award, Theodore Presser Foundation Music Award, New York Youth Symphony First Music Commission, Cortona Prize, Walter Beeler Memorial Prize, and Boston Guitarfest Competition. He also received honorable mentions in the Harvey Gaul Memorial Competition and two consecutive ASCAP/CBDNA Frederick Fennell Prizes. Viet has held artist residencies at Yaddo, Ucross, and the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and was a fellow at the Mizzou International Composers Festival, Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab, Cabrillo Festival’s Young Composers Workshop, Copland House’s CULTIVATE Institute, and the Aspen and Bowdoin music festivals. He holds an Artist Diploma from the Curtis Institute, and MFA from Princeton University, and Bachelors and Masters degrees from the Peabody Conservatory. He is currently finishing his PhD at Princeton. Moth The “moth to the flame” narrative is a familiar one. We have all seen moths in the glow of flames or stadium lights. Scientists call this phenomenon “phototaxis,” but he composer prefers to think of this attraction in much more romantic terms. The dusty moth, though destined to live in shadow, has an insatiable craving for the brightness of day. Drab, but elegant, nervous, but swift, his taste for the glow of the flame or the filament is dire. Perhaps he dances in the light because it holds the promise that he might be as beautiful as his favored kin, the butterfly. For only there, in its ecstatic warmth, may he spend the last of his fleeting life, and believe himself to be. Moth seeks inspiration from the dualities between light and dark, beautiful and grotesque, reality and fantasy, and the ultimate decision to sacrifice sensibility for grace. -Program note by composer
UPCOMING CONSERVATORY EVENTS Nov. 10 I 7:30 pm Central Valley Youth Symphony Faye Spanos Concert Hall
Nov. 18 I 7:30 pm Pacific Chamber Music Recital Recital Hall
Nov. 15 I 7:30 pm University Symphony Orchestra with Trio 180 Faye Spanos Concert Hall
Nov. 20 I 7:30 pm Pacific Jazz Ensemble Faye Spanos Concert Hall
Nov. 17 I 2:30 pm Third Coast Percussion Presented by Friends of Chamber Music Faye Spanos Concert Hall Nov. 17 I 5 pm Masterclass with Third Coast Percussion Recital Hall
Nov. 23 I 7:30 pm Pacific Heavy Ensemble DeRosa University Center Nov. 25 I 7:30 pm Pacific Chamber Music Recital Recital Hall go.Pacific.edu/MusicEvents
SUPPORT OUR STUDENTS Every gift to the Conservatory from an alumnus, parent, or friend makes an impact on our students. Our students rely on your generosity to enable them to experience a superior education. The Hammer Family Memorial Scholarship honors the Hammer family’s long history with University of the Pacific and it provides scholarship support to students to continue this legacy in the field of music education. Eric Hammer Memorial Band Fund provides annual support to the Conservatory Music Band program. To make a gift, please, contact Briana Bacon, Assistant Dean for Development, at bbacon@pacific.edu or 209.946.7441. You may also send a check payable to University of the Pacific at 3601 Pacific Ave., Stockton, CA 95211.
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