Armando Bayolo's LAST BREATHS: Inhaling and Exhaling with Others Thomas McCauley John J. Cali School of Music Montclair State University
What responsibilities do large ensembles and their conductors have to examine present-day circumstances? What present-day issues are worthy of this kind of examination? Whose stories do we tell and why? These weighty questions are ones which must be considered by teachers responsible for the musical education of young people through the medium of the large ensemble. As each teacher/conductor, ensemble, and circumstance is often quite different, the answers to the questions above cannot be standard or universal. But it is in these different circumstances and situations, and often because of them, that unique and sometimes profound musical and educational experiences occur. This was the case with the Montclair State University Wind Symphony’s experience with Puerto Rican born, Cuban composer Armando Bayolo’s Last Breaths. For readers who may not know, Bayolo has been commissioned by prestigious entities such as the Aspen Music Festival, Harvard University, the Minnesota Orchestra, the American Composers Forum, and the Consortium for a Strong Minority Presence, and his music has been performed around the world. Importantly, Bayolo is no stranger to creating socially conscious works including music dedicated to climate change (Wide Open Spaces, 2013), school violence (Elegy: Sandy Hook, 2012), and fate and inevitability (A Kind of Standoff, 2006). Before the atrocious murder of George Floyd focused more of white America’s attention on the inequality in our current system of justice and community policing, in 2014, Bayolo began expressing his dismay in music about the deaths of unarmed African Americans at the hands of the police including Eric Garner, John Crawford, Trayvon Martin, Sean Bell, Kimani Gray, and Jonathan Ferrell in Last Breaths. Originally written as a chamber work for baritone solo, bass clarinet, trumpet, and TEMPO
trombone, the large ensemble version of Last Breaths was commissioned by: The College of New Jersey Wind Ensemble, David Vickerman, conductor (leader) Arizona State University Wind Ensemble, Jason Caslor, conductor Gustavus Adolphus College Wind Orchestra, James Patrick Miller, conductor Gustavus Adolphus College Office of the Chaplains Limestone College Wind Ensemble, Patrick K. Carney, conductor Montclair State University Wind Symphony, Thomas McCauley, conductor California State University Stanislaus Wind Ensemble, Stuart Sims, conductor University of Maryland Wind Orchestra, Michael Votta, conductor University of Georgia Hodgson Wind Ensemble, Cynthia Johnston Turner, conductor University of South Florida Wind Ensemble, John C. Carmichael, conductor Instrumentation: Solo baritone (amplified) 2 flutes (flute 1 doubles piccolo) 2 clarinets Bass clarinet Soprano saxophone Alto saxophone Tenor saxophone Baritone saxophone 2 horns Trumpet in C Tenor Trombone 46
JANUARY 2021
