The land occupied by Salem State University is part of Naumkeag, a traditional and ancestral homeland of the Pawtucket band of the Massachusett. We acknowledge the genocide and forced removal of the people of Naumkeag and their kin and we recognize the ongoing colonization and dispossession of Indigenous homelands. We respect and honor the Massachusett tribe and the many Indigenous Peoples who continue to care for the land upon which we gather. We recognize our own responsibility to this land we occupy. We commit to continuously learning and sharing its history and that of the Massachusett and other Indigenous People who have been and remain here. We commit to develop and implement initiatives that work toward repairing the injustices continuously being committed on the Indigenous People of this land. We commit to making our own environmental impact on this land as sustainable as possible. We commit to a renewed and ongoing engagement with the Massachusett and all Indigenous People in and around Salem State.
To learn more about Salem State’s Land Acknowledgement please visit salemstate.edu/LandAcknowledgement.
MUSIC
The Salem State University music and dance department presents
December 4
University Chorus
University Chamber Singers
Under the direction of Holly M. Zagaria
Sanae Kanda, piano
December 5
Electronic Music Ensemble
Under the direction of Mike Testa
World Music Ensemble
Under the direction of Peter Kvetko
Guitar Ensemble
Under the direction of Raymond Gonzalez
Improv Ensemble
Under the direction of Steve Lacey
December 9
University Band
Under the direction of Cynthia Napierkowski
UNIVERSITY CHORUS PROGRAM
December 4, 2024
Holly M. Zagaria, DMA, director
Sanae Kanda, DMA, piano
Duel of the Fates, from Star Wars, Episode I, The Phantom Menace.............. ........................................................................................
John Williams (b. 1933) arr. Keith Christopher
A Light of Hope, A Song of Peace ............................... Mark Burrows (b. 1971)
Under Winter Moon ............................................................................ Andy Beck
Carry the Light
Mamma Mia!, Highlights from the Movie Soundtrack ................. arr.Mac Huff
UNIVERSITY CHORUS
Soprano
Olivia Freni
Alani Lopez
Soprano II
Lexi Skye Davignon
Maddi Donovan
Addy Hiltebeitel
Alto
Axel Bombardier
Sofia Dixon
Keira Doherty
Abby Gove
Addy Hiltebeitel
Michelle Lesperance
Juliana Mesa
Rose Devaigh
Elsa Vig
Emmalyn Woods
Tenor
Dnate Santaniello
Mickey C. McGrath
Axel Bombardier
Bass
Brian Colcord
Rudy Feinberg
Sebastian Lovasco
Tyresse Molnar-Mkusa
UNIVERSITY CHAMBER SINGERS PROGRAM
December
4, 2024
Holly M. Zagaria, DMA, director
Sanae Kanda, DMA, piano
Alleluia....................................................................... William Boyce (1710-1779)
Gloria from Teresienmesse Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) arr. Patrick M. Liebergen (1949-2020)
VII. Domine Fili Unigenite from Gloria ............Antonio Vivalidi (c. 1678-1741) ed. William Herrmann
Olivia Freni, soprano
Laudate Dominum from “Vesperaae solmne de confessore,” KV 330
.......................................................................... Wolfgang A. Mozart (1756-1791)
Never My Love Don Addrisi (1938-1984) and Richard Addrisi (b.1941) arr. Greg Gilpin (b.1964)
God Only Knows ................... Brian Wilson (b. 1942) and Tony Asher (b.1939) arr. Ed Lojeski
Heal the World .................................................... Michael Jackson (1958-2009) arr. Mac Huff
CHAMBER SINGERS
Soprano
Lexi Skye Davignon
Olivia Freni
Alani Lopez
Abrianna Madden
Soprano II
Kayla Ario
Hannalise Gruda
Adrianna LeBrasseur
Elsa Vig
Alto
Astorial Alt
Kayla Ario
Joy Botelho
Hannalise Gruda
Adrianna LeBrasseur
Paige Steriti
Elsa Vig
Tenor
Dante Santaniello
Mickey C. McGrath
Jamie Tsitlenko
Bass
Dante Santaniello
Mickey C. McGrath
Jamie Tsitlenko
Jack Newton
SMALL MUSIC ENSEMBLES
December 5
ELECTRONIC MUSIC ENSEMBLE
Mike Testa, DMA, director
PROGRAM
Tonight’s preshow performance will feature student compositions as well as an electronic instrument improvisation.
PERFORMERS
Aidan Auditore
Elisabeth Knowlton
Paul O’Brien
Wilnide Raphael
Emily Rojop Lopez
PROGRAM NOTES
The Salem State University Electronic Ensemble explores electronic production and manipulation of music in a live ensemble setting. Students will incorporate synthesis, signal processing, sampling, etc. into a musical framework. Besides performing from the constantly expanding repertoire of electronic music, students will be encouraged to create original compositions and arrangements for the ensemble.
WORLD MUSIC ENSEMBLE
Peter Kvetko, PhD, director
PROGRAM
Shona music from Zimbabwe
Traditional composition “Vamuroro” for mbira
Hindustani music from India
Tabla: theka and qaida in teental
Sitar: sargam in raga Bhairavi
PERFORMERS
Hunter Blais
Eddie Bonilla
Mabel Castillo Ramirez
Camilo Diaz
Abby Gove
Javier Márquez
Allan Martinez
Seohee Song
Peter Kvetko in an ethnomusicologist who teaches courses in world music and popular music studies at Salem State University. He has studied North Indian classical music from Dr. Stephen Slawek and from the late Ustad Shamim Ahmed Khan, both disciples of the legendary sitarist Pt. Ravi Shankar. Dr. Kvetko also performs traditional Shona music with the Samanyanga Mbira Group and Indonesian court music as part of Gamelan Laras Tentrem.
GUITAR ENSEMBLE
Raymond Gonzalez, MM, director
PROGRAM
Song Tune ........................................................... Thomas Campian (1567-1620)
Steamroller Blues ........................................................................... James Taylor
Sunny ................................................................................................ Bobby Hebb
PERFORMERS
Max Calabrese
Ryan Henson
Brendan Sheehan
Raymond Gonzalez is a composer, arranger, producer, and multiinstrumentalist. A professional guitarist since the age of sixteen, he has traveled extensively throughout the US performing on concert stages, festivals, radio, TV, coffeehouses, house concerts, and most things inbetween. Classical, Celtic, jazz, folk, blues, alternative-acoustic and the avant-garde are all in Gonzalez’s arsenal of musical styles. He began composing for solo guitar, piano, and classical ensembles at a very young age, which ultimately led to a master’s degree in composition from the New England Conservatory of Music.
Gonzalez is the owner and operator of blue fish sound productions, where he produces, arranges, and engineers music for songwriters, vocalists, instrumental soloists, in addition to writing the occasional commercial. Gonzalez has fulfilled commissions of his original music over many decades, as well as hundreds of transcriptions of his own work and that of other composers.
He has composed, produced, and published fourteen albums of original solo guitar works, singer-songwriter and modern classical material. Gonzalez has published five books (so far) in a multi-book deal with Mel Bay Publications.
IMPROV ENSEMBLE
Stephen Lacey, MM, director
PROGRAM
So What ............................................................................................. Miles Davis
Autumn Leaves .......................................................................... Joseph Kosma
I Could Write a Book Richard Rogers
Where or When ...........................................................................Richard Rogers
O Pato ...................................................................... Jayme Silva/Neuza Texeira
Love is Everywhere ................................................................... Pharoh Sanders
PERFORMERS
Jonah Backstrom
Max Beauregard
Sam Gauthier
Jacqueline Hernandez
Elizabeth Knowlton
Abrianna Madden
William Murray
Ava Obrien
Chizu Oparaji
Samantha Sarita
Paige Steriti
Ben Vargas
Audrey Yard
Steve Lacey, MM, is a guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and music educator based in Gloucester, MA. Steve has performed in various groups all around the Boston and North Shore area including the Shalin Liu, Cabot theatre, Short & Main, The Bebop, The Cut. Steve is primarily a jazz guitarist, with an interest in a wide range of other styles and instruments. Steve graduated from Salem State in 2012 and studied guitar with Tony Wolff and Raymond Gonzalez. From 2015-2019, Steve lived in NYC and studied guitar with Pasquale Grasso and Gene Bertoncini, eventually earning an M.M. In Jazz studies at City College of New York.
Upon returning to Gloucester, Steve released his debut solo guitar album, To The Ocean. Steve spent much of his time during the pandemic practicing organ, piano, recorder, clarinet and studied sound healing with Katherine Hamer (Sound Healing Institute of New York) using Tibetan singing bowls. Now Steve is Music Director at Gloucester’s UU church where you may see him playing any combination of these instruments. Steve is also finding ways to use all these instruments in original music for film, accompanying dance, recording and performance.”
UNIVERSITY BAND PROGRAM
December 9
Cynthia Napierkowski, MEd, director
PROGRAM
Military Escort ............................................................................. Harold Bennett ed. Frederick Fennell
Egmont Overture ........................................................... Ludwig van Beethoven arr. for Military Band by Frank Winterbottom
Symphony No. 40 in G Minor .........................................................W.A. Mozart Excerpts from Movement I - Molto allegro .................... arr. Stephen Bulla
Bolero ............................................................................................ Maurice Ravel arr. Jay Bocook
Country Gardens
English Folk Song arr. for piano by Percy Grainger ed. and orch. Brant Karrick
Chant Rituals ............................................................................... Elliot del Borgo
Malagueña .................................Music and Spanish lyric by Ernesto Lecuona arr. Sammy Nestico
Amparito Roca Jamie Texidor arr. Aubrey Winter
Thank you for attending tonight’s performance and congratulations to all the performers.
Please join us in the lobby for some light refreshments. Have a pleasant evening!
UNIVERSITY BAND PERSONNEL
Flutes
Lisa Barden
Annie Bednar
Emilie Bennett
Andrea Corliss
Jaylynn Eady
Jenna Phelps
Nancy Reed
Eileen Yarrison
Oboe
Brian Ferris
Clarinets
Heather Anderson
Grant Dwyer
Kayla Fry
Nancy George
Jim Glynn
Caroline Kirkpatrick
Heaven Mazza
Taliyah Perrin
Hannah Phelps
Susan Wisser
Bass Clarinet
Isaac Espinal
MaryJo Grenfell
Bassoon
Heidi Despotopulos
Raymond Nguyen
Alto Saxophones
Eden McClain
Damian Ramirez
Viviana Torres
Reign Vincent
Tenor Saxophones
Sam Gauthier
Gavin Ryan
Diego Segura
Baritone Saxophone
Max Beauregard
Linus Owen
Doug York
Trumpets
Abby Alley
Daniel Alley
Thrace Dinkel
Roger Dionne
Lucas Fox
August Froeschl
Justin McCue
Mark Napierkowski
Ethan Roses
Wyn Stevick
Wilson Zhang
French Horns
Samuel Johnson
John Owen
Herb Schurgin
Trombones
Sofia Alvarado
James Chesley
Aaron Dwyer
Finn Hanger
Ava Obrien
Brooks Workman
Euphonium
Dylan Beauregard
Tuba
William Towne
Electric Bass
Eden Pereira
Percussion
Brian Ducie
Anson Froeschl
Donald Masella
Joel Mulsman
Brandon Flammia Olsen
Waskelly Veloz Peña
Cynthia (Cyndi) Napierkowski was originally hired as an adjunct oboe teacher for Salem State University during the 2008-2009 school year and is thrilled to be in her thrilled year as the conductor for the University Band, grateful for the opportunity to work with this wonderful group of musicians. She started her career as a music teacher in 1987 as the grades four through twelve Director of Bands and Woodwind Specialist for the Salem Public Schools. Recently “semi-retired,” she currently conducts the Salem High School Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band and serves as the advisor for the Tri-M Music Honor Society. Throughout her career in Salem, she taught instrumental music lessons and created and conducted numerous other ensembles at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. In 1994, she was appointed as the PreK-12 Coordinator of Music for the Salem Public Schools, a position she held until June of 2022. During her time as coordinator, the program grew significantly, adding new course offerings in music as well as many new ensembles and a thriving private lesson program. Her high school music groups have performed all around the United States and Canada at music festivals and civic events and have consistently received outstanding and superior ratings. In March of 2009, she conducted the Salem High School Concert Band in their debut performance at Carnegie Hall, returning in March 2014 and April 2023 and performing in Boston’s Symphony Hall in March 2016. This past spring, she directed the Salem High School Jazz Band during the French Quarter Festival in New Orleans, LA. She is the founder and director of the Salem Community Band and Salem Community Jazz Band and a member of the Salem Philharmonic Orchestra. She teaches private woodwind lessons and performs in various ensembles and pit orchestras in the Boston/North Shore area.
Early in her career, Cynthia received the J. Michael Ruane Community Service Award, the North Shore Salvation Army’s Community Service Award, Salem High School’s Outstanding Teacher Award, and the City of Salem’s Outstanding Employee Award. She went on to be featured in the “North Shore 100” magazine and was selected as one of “50 Directors Who Make a Difference” in December 2013 for SBO Magazine. She received the inaugural Educator of the Year award in August 2014 from the Salem Jazz and Soul Festival and the George N. Parks Leadership in Music Education Award sponsored by the National Association for Music Education and Music for All in November 2014. In 2017, she received the Paul Harris Award from the Salem Rotary Club and the Margaret Voss Howard Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Cynthia has served Music Education in a wide variety of capacities throughout her teaching career holding numerous positions for the MMEA Northeastern District, and the Massachusetts Association of Jazz Educators for many years.
PROGRAM NOTES
Military Escort has introduced more Americans to the regimental march style than any title in that vast and fascinating musical literature. And while it may not enjoy - in this era of supposed musical sophistication - the position it held so firmly half a century ago, it remains a classic example of effective and disarming simplicity, reflecting the innocence and charm of a bygone time in American music education. Its composer, the versatile and enormously gifted musician, Henry Fillmore, wrote it under the Harold Bennett pseudonym as part of what became the famous Bennett Band Book No. 1 - A Collection of Original Compositions for Band. This was in 1928 when organized instrumental music instruction and participation were in their infancy in our public institutions. Today’s plush band rooms generously staffed and with their long corridors of practice rooms, instrument lockers, orthopedically designed chairs, forests of music stands - and instruments “tuned at the factory” were but the wildest dreams of the dedicated bandmaster who taught his kids the fingerings in the boiler room.
Frederick Fennell/Miami 1980
Egmont Overture - This overture clearly represents Beethoven as a political liberal and a champion of the oppressed. Based on a tragedy by Goethe, Beethoven's work is intended as incidental music for the play which was produced in Vienna in 1810. The plot relates to the Dutch patriot Count Egmont, one of the leaders of the revolt against the tyrannical Duke of Alva, who is sent to suppress the budding succession of the Netherlands from Spain. Egmont is treacherously seized and condemned to public execution. Asleep in prison, he dreams of the goddess of liberty, whose face is that of his beloved Clarchen. She tells him that in dying he will secure the eventual victory of his people and be hailed as a conqueror. He awakens, the soldiers enter, and they lead him to the scaffold. His last words are "Fight for your hearth and homes and die joyfully -- after my example -- to save that which you hold most dear."
- Program Note from Program Notes for Band
The opening chords of the overture have been interpreted to represent the weight of Spanish oppression. The main section of the work describes the rapidly developing rebellion, and the close of the work proclaims victory for the forces of freedom.
- Program Note from Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music
The Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart lived a tragically short life of thirty-five years. Towards the end of his life in the summer of 1788, he wrote three symphonies in the span of a little over six weeks His Symphony #40 in G Minor was one of those great works. This setting of the first movement from that Symphony provides ample demonstration of the composer’s grace, inventiveness, and pervasive sense of humor, which can be found throughout the music.
- Curnow Music Press Inc.
Maurice Ravel is best known for his orchestral work Bolero (1928), which he considered trivial and once described as "a piece for orchestra without music". Bolero is a one-movement orchestral piece originally composed as a ballet commissioned by Russian ballerina Ida Rubinstein. For Bolero he used the opportunity to conduct an experiment. As he put it, the score would be "uniform throughout in its melody, harmony and rhythm, the latter being tapped out continuously on the drum. The only element of variety is supplied by the orchestral crescendo." Instrumental coloring plays a major role, as well, an area in which Ravel had attained supreme mastery. After its premiere as a ballet, Bolero quickly won even greater success in the concert hall.
- Program Note from publisher
This well-known Ravel classic is a study in orchestration as it gradually builds intensity from the quiet opening to the powerful and explosive finish. Jay Bocook does a masterful job of adapting this work for concert band using solos for clarinet, flute and trumpet and skillful use of the entire ensemble.
- Editions Durand Hal Leonard Corporation
Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882-1961) enjoyed a long and distinguished musical career as a concert pianist, composer, educator, innovator, and folk-song collector. Following his first public performances, he was hailed as a prodigy and soon emerged as one of the leading concert pianists in the world. His interest in world music was further inspired after attending a lecture by noted ethnomusicologist Lucy Broadwood in 1905, and by encouragement from his friend Edvard Grieg. He soon became an avid folk song collector and was among the first to use the Edison wax cylinder recorder. Over the next few years, he was able to collect and transcribe over four hundred songs, many of which he arranged and orchestrated, and now remain some of his best-known works. His first piano arrangement of the English Morris dance tune “Country Gardens” was completed in 1918 as a birthday gift for his mother. It became extremely popular and was his greatest commercial and financial success, making Grainger very rich. He soon, however, began to detest the song as he was continuously asked to play it. Many times his audience would not leave the concert until he obliged. Even this simple tune displays Grainger’s genius with harmony, counterpoint, and color, and hopefully will entice musicians of all ages to enjoy the music of Percy Grainger!
Alfred Music
Amparito Roca - This Spanish pasodoble march was written by Spanish bandleader and composer Jaime Texidor. The introduction and first strain are indicative of a bullfighter’s music, whereas the gentle, lighthearted trio section takes on the character of a couple’s dance, evoking the other essential element of the pasodoble. The powerful brass in the dogfight (bullfight), and the tutti texture of the maestoso section bring this piece to a grand conclusion.
- Program Note by arranger Aubrey Winter
FACULTY
Peter J. Kvetko – chairperson, world music
Mary-Jo Grenfell – music history, orchestra
Philip A. Swanson – music theory, jazz studies
Michael Testa – music technology
Holly Zagaria – choral music, music education
ADJUNCT MUSIC FACULTY
Sam Beebe – orchestration, composition, music history, electronic music
Raymond Gonzalez – guitar ensemble, applied classical guitar, applied songwriting
Diane Hastings – applied violin
Max Ignas – applied trumpet
Sanae Kanda – applied piano, music history, piano class, staff accompanist
Steve Lacey – jazz improv ensemble, applied jazz guitar
Cynthia Napierkowski – university band
Eric Christopher Perry – applied voice, voice glass, songwriting
Jay Rinaldi – music technology
Andrew Schiller – applied bass
Lynn Shane – community chorus
Beverly Soll – women in music history
Robb Taylor – applied saxophone, music education, woodwind pedagogy
Eileen Yarrison – applied flute
MUSIC MAJOR
March 8, 7 pm
Music Alumni Recital
Recital Hall
Salem State Music Alumni Recital October 19, 2024
March 29, 7:30 pm
March 30, 3 pm
The Ballad of Tam Lin by Molly Pinto Madigan ’13
Recital Hall
April 8, 4:30 pm
SSU Music Alumni: Views from the Field: Ethnomusicology
CC 237
April 24, 7:30 pm
Requiem by Javier Marquez ’08
University Orchestra and University Chorus
Salem High School
Recital Hall
Support Tomorrow’s Artists
The Center for Creative and Performing Arts
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