The University of Illinois Chicago School of Theatre and Music presents
Showcase Concert Saurday April 30, 2022 7:30 pm UIC Theatre
Land Acknowledgement Statement
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The UIC School of Theatre and Music sits on the traditional homeland of the original peoples of the area: the Three Fires Confederacy (the Potawatomi, Odawa, and Ojibwe Nations) as well as the Menominee and Ho-Chunk who—along with many Indigenous people—were among its first inhabitants. With respect and gratitude, The School of Theatre and Music honors the many Native Americans who have, do, and will call this land their home. STM acknowledges that we have benefitted from the repeated attacks on Native Americans that forced tribal representatives to sign the 1816 Treaty of St Louis, relinquishing to the U.S. all claims of the land from Lake Michigan to the Illinois River. This land seizure led to the era of economic development and rapid growth that made Chicago the metropolis that it is today. We have an obligation to our students and the nearly 65,000 Native Americans now living in Chicago to do no further harm, to amplify Native voices, and to fight for equity and inclusion by engaging in anti-racism policies and practices. For us, this work begins with this statement, and must be followed by actions that immediately affect our work and life on campus. STM therefore commits to the following initiatives: / The creation of an Antiracism Action Plan and Committee / Antiracism training for all STM faculty and staff / Annual Recruitment workshops and on-site special events for Native high-schoolers. / An annual master class or talk with Native musicians and/or theatre artists. / Free tickets to STM performances and concerts, provided through UIC’s Native American Support Program. / Increased representation of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) voices and perspectives in STM pedagogy, classrooms, and performances. This is only the beginning of our work. We look forward to expanded and sustained STM programming that addresses ignorance, systemic racism, and white dominance. Developed by STM Theatre Faculty 08.25.2020
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Welcome Welcome to the inaugural UIC Showcase Concert – a chamber concert that celebrates faculty-nominated students and alumni. This afternoon’s concert features many areas within the School of Theatre and Music. Musically, you’ll enjoy a range spanning the 18th to 21st century; from Bach’s Lute Music to Rutledge’s Grad Workers Union. This afternoon’s performance features only a selection of the faculty-nominated students. Please note the complete list of nominated students – congratulations!
Caitlin Arquines
Amy Lian
Vito Bellino
Maggie Little
Ben Branda
Reed McKay
Ephraim Champion
Kevyn Miller
Donovan Davis
Luis Ortiz
Gemmia Deadmon
Juan Peinado
Jenny Eng
Logan Rutledge
Sarah Estilo
Luke Sangdin
Caleb Fetzer
Jason Soto
George Grunditz
Jason Soto
Tommy Haepp
Julia Soulsby
Henry Hinterman
Abdo Timejardine-Zomeno
Jesse Jefferis
Mark Watson
Gabby Jones
Sam Winters
Kayla Jordan
Cissy Xiao
Jericho Kadusale
Phillip Xu
Cuong Duy Lam
Grace Zieman
Hayden Larsen
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Repertoire Cheese Cake
JacobTV
1. Welcome 2. Cheese Cake 3. Secret Love 4. The blues up and down Lute Suite No. 1, BVW. 996
Bach
1. Prelude 2. Fugue 3. Allemande Vito Bellino, guitar Kindertotenlieder, "nun will die
Mahler/trans. Villela
sonn' so hell aufgehn" Grace Zieman, solist Gravity
Marc Mellits Professor Jordan Kamps, director
01_08
Jordan Kamps Professor Jordan Kamps, director
Take The “A” Train
Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn Donovan Davis, voice Hana Fujisaki, piano
I'll be seeing you Caitlin Arquines, voice Hana Fujisaki, piano Tenderly
Walter Gross Gemmia Deadmon, voice Hana Fujisaki, piano
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Repertoire Concerto for Tuba
Vaughan Williams
1. PRELUDE Allegro moderato Juan Peinado, tuba Henry Hitterman, piano Grad Workers Union
Logan Rutledge World premiere
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Personnel Vocalists
Percussion
Grace Zieman
Josue Avila
Caitlin Arquines
Hayley Balen
Donovan Davis
Nicholas Casas
Gemmia Deadmon
Anna Elsen Jenny Eng
Flute/Piccolo
Caleb Fetzer
Elizabeth McCormick
Matthew Greenberg Adrian Knight
Oboe
Mia Peric
Mark Watson
Hannah Shaikh Paris Catura
Saxophone Ben Branda
Harp
Jericho Kadusale
Julie Spring
Sam Winters George Grunditz
Guitar Vito Bellino
Trumpet Luis Ortiz Gabby Jones Trombone Tommy Haepp Julia Soulsby Euphonium Julia Soulsby Bass Trombone Luis Lema Tuba Juan Peinado
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UIC Symphonic Band Personnel Flute
Maya Cornejo
String Bass
Youjia Wang*
Gabby Jones+
Jason Soto
Joanne Yu (picc)
Sammy Weintraub
Sophia Lopez
Louis Quigley
Piano Jonathan Magboo
Eliza Apavaloaiei(picc) Horn Oboe
Kyli Berkley*
Harp
Vivek Ily*
Daniel McCarrick+
Jennifer Ruggieri
Mark Watson (E.h.)
Noemi Morquecho+
Isaac Fertel
Kali Giancana Lauren Cole+
*Denotes principal or
Bassoon
Graeme Classen
co-principal
Galina Kiep
Brett Perzee
Lisa Rathje
Julio de la Rosa
+ Denotes member of Kappa Kappa Psi
Clarinet
Trombone
Abdo Timejardine-
Tommy Haepp*
Zomeño*
Luis Lema+(bass)
Simonne Harris
Phoebe Stoughton
Toni Smertene
Becca Nika
Chris Izzo
Joshua Gibson+
Gustavo Morales Euphonium Bass Clarinet
Julia Soulsby*
Alexia Pohlod
Francisco Cruz
Saxophone
Tuba
George Grunditz* (alto) Juan Peinado* Mark Parages (alto)
Adam Carlson
Sam Winters (tenor) Jericho Kadusale+
Percussion
(bari)
Caleb Fetzer* Jen Eng
Trumpet
Jair Manzanares
Luis Ortiz*
John Emiliano
Carolina Woźniczka
Matthew Greenberg
Lily Cruz+
Josue Avila
Program Notes
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Cheese Cake Cheese Cake, for large ensemble and audio, was written in 2004 for De Volharding, commissioned by the FPA. Cheese Cake is based on a 1978 concert announcement by Dexter Gordon in Carnegie Hall and sound bytes from George Adams singing ‘The Blues up and down’ and ‘Pay Day Blues’. -Program Note by composer
Lute Suite No. 1, BVW. 996 The ingenious and practical Bach, one of history’s most masterful recyclers, constantly took advantage of upcoming performances, employers’ needs, or teaching opportunities to recycle or adapt existing works. Thus differing versions survive of many works, and others carried his indication that they could be played on alternate instruments. In the case of his compositions for lute, he may have written them for lute virtuosos of his acquaintance—he was in contact with virtuosos S. L. Weiss and K Kropfans of Dresden and historian and player E. G Baron in Leipzig—or for his students, such as lute players/composers J. L. Krebs and R Straube. He was well aware, however, that lute pieces could easily be adapted to the keyboard—he indicated that his E-flat major Sonata, BWV 998, could be played on lute or harpsichord—and of the seven works that bear lute designations, more survive in keyboard than lute versions. The Suite in E minor, BWV 996, is most likely the earliest of the pieces designated for lute—or possibly “Lautenwerk,” a mechanism to emulate the lute on a harpsichord—dating probably from sometime after 1712 when Bach was working in Weimar. It is entirely in keeping with Bach’s philosophy of transferability that this Suite and his other lute pieces should be played on guitar, as they typically are today. Bach based his suites on a standard series of Baroque dance movements, which by his time were no longer meant for actual dancing— Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, and Gigue. All the movements employ binary form (two sections, each repeated). A variety of additional dance movements could be inserted between the Sarabande and Gigue, the
Program Notes
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typical place for any slightly more “modern” dance forms. He typically prefaced his suites with a prelude, or in this case, as in his “English” Suite No. 6 for keyboard, with a paired prelude and fugue. Here he labels the prelude “Passagio,” a designation for an improvisatory-sounding introduction, and the short but intense fugue, “Presto.” Bach uses the French designations for the remainder of the Suite’s movements, and the serious but graceful Allemande and the elegant Courante show his best French style, much like his French Suites for keyboard. In the lovely, introspective Sarabande, Bach shows his penchant for mixing French and Italian styles, his Italianate sensibility appearing especially in his melodic ornaments. His “added” movement, a vivacious Bourrée that is perhaps the best-known movement of the suite, is striking for its constant long-short-short rhythmic pattern and propulsive bass line. The exuberant Gigue leaves its dance models far behind with a remarkable contrapuntal display embedded in its lively perpetual motion. -Program Note by Jason Vieaux
Gravity While writing “Gravity” I found myself thinking about how musical notes and lines can become attracted to each other and follow one another. The opening of the work begins on a single pitch, D. Then, one by one, and with each instrument following each other, new notes are built into the pulsating sound. With a musical gravitational force, the lines follow each other then bounce back and forth together. The overall rhythm and tempo also shifts in a ‘gravitational’ way. The music continually gets faster and faster, always picking up speed as it falls, spiraling into a new tempo at each musical shift in texture. The music is written for a combination of Marimbas and Vibraphones, and the mixture of sound that these different materials make provide a spring board for the musical lines to intersect, bounce, and play off each other, always getting faster, always falling from the sky. -Program Note by composer
Program Notes
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01_08 I wrote 01_08 in January 2020 (hence the title, the day it was finished). At the time, the concert the UIC Percussion Ensemble was putting together needed something that was loud, had accessible parts for the whole ensemble, and featured electronics. The original performance was put on hold for the pandemic. For this piece I dug into my deep love of the great music that came with really bad 80s movies. This was an era where just one person, a Yamaha DX-7, and a Roland 808 could score an entire martial arts-filled action movie on a budget. Now I’m not talking about the scores to movies like Predator, Top Gun, or Robo Cop, I’m talking about movies like Samurai Cop, Hard Ticket to Hawaii, or Miami Connection. This piece tries to capture the spirit and the groove of a simple beat combined with the power of synthetic sounds found in these soundtracks. -Program Note by composer
Kindertotenlieder, "nun will die sonn' so hell aufgehn" Mahler began his Kindertotenlieder in the summer of 1901, after a health crisis got him thinking about his own mortality. Laid low with the flu in January of that year, Mahler had returned to his duties as conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic and as director of the Vienna Court Opera looking like death warmed over - Alma Schindler, his future wife, observed him leading a performance of Mozart's The Magic Flute and remarked on his "Lucifer-like face, pale cheeks, eyes like burning coals," telling her companions, "This man can't go on like that." That night, February 24, after the performance, Mahler telephoned his sister, who arrived at his apartment to find him lying in a pool of his own blood. She summoned a doctor and a surgeon, and Mahler underwent an emergency operation for an intestinal hemorrhage. "You know, last night I nearly passed away," he told his close friend Natalie Bauer-Lechner. "When I saw the faces of the two doctors, I thought my last hour had come…. While I was hovering on the border between life and death, I wondered whether it would not be better to have done with it at once, since everyone must come to that in the end. Besides, the prospect of dying did not frighten me in the least…and to return to life seemed almost a nuisance."
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Program Notes But return to life Mahler did, and with abandon if we consider the events
of the months that followed the crisis. Mahler composed during summers, and the summer of 1901 was one of his most prolific, yielding a host of songs, including the first, third, and fourth of the Kindertotenlieder and two movements of his Fifth Symphony. He also began his courtship of Alma, whom he married in March 1902. Their first daughter, Maria, was born in November of that year. The first moments of her life, during which she seemed not to be breathing, were terrifying, and Mahler constantly worried about her frail health. (Mahler's fears were justified; Maria died at the age of four from scarlet fever and diphtheria.) Perhaps this explains his attraction to Friedrich Rückert's poems. Rückert (1788-1866) began writing his Kinder-totenlieder following the deaths of two of his children from scarlet fever during the winter of 1833-34. He eventually produced hundreds of these poems, which were published posthumously.
-Program Note by John Mangum
Nun will die Sonn’ so hell aufgehn,
Now the sun prepares to rise as brightly,
Als sei kein Unglück die Nacht geschehn!
As though no misfortune had befallen in the night!
Das Unglück geschah nur mir allein!
The misfortune befell me alone!
Die Sonne, sie scheinet allgemein!
The sun, it shines on all mankind!
Du mußt nicht die Nacht in dir verschränken,
You must not enclose the night within you,
Mußt sie ins ew’ge Licht versenken!
You must immerse it in eternal light.
Ein Lämplein verlosch in meinem Zelt!
A little lamp went out in my firmament,
Heil sei dem Freudenlicht der Welt!
Hail to the joyful light of the world!
Program Notes
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Tuba Concerto Vaughan Williams composed his Tuba Concerto for the golden jubilee of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1954 with the orchestra's own tuba player, Philip Catelinet, as the soloist. In the program notes for the occasion Vaughan Williams wrote that the Concerto's form was "nearer to the Bach form than to that of the Viennese School (Mozart and Beethoven)". Consequently, whilst the three movement piece is relatively short it still demonstrates Vaughan Williams' own harmonic and rhythmic style. The Prelude is a brisk march that shows off the tuba's agility with little groups of fast notes and scalic passages. The middle section (in compound time) sounds like a grotesque cousin of "Nelly the Elephant" that eventually recapitulates back to the opening march. The movement ends with a florid cadenza that exploits the very highest and lowest registers of the instrument concluding with a series of wide leaps and a slow recall of the main theme. The Romanza is a piece of lyrical beauty written to demonstrate the vocal quality of the tuba in its high register. The opening melody is in vintage Vaughan Williams folk-song style. The music is more agitated in the middle section where the main theme is ornamented before a climax that leads to a reprise of the meditative mood of the opening. The Finale is a rondo "alla tedesca" - in the German style - clarifying that it is a traditional rondo in which an energetic main melody (consisting of rocket-like arpeggios and nimble trills) alternates with contrasting episodes. The sleeve notes for the first recording state that "the tuba romps amid the dancing strings, like Falstaff among the fairies in Windsor Forest" while the critic Michael Kennedy calls it "an elephantine romp, humourous and salty". Just as in the first movement, the Finale ends with a virtuosic cadenza rounded off with a wild cascade of sound from the orchestra. -Program Note by Nicholas H. Tollerevy
Program Notes
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Grad Workers Union “In my time as a graduate student, I’ve faced struggles due to lack of funding and having to prove my worth more than others. In both of my graduate institutions I was not given a chance to interview for an assistantship position during my first year for reasons unclear to me. Upon proving my worth with my work in the field, and my work ethic as a composer and educator, I would be given interviews at both institutions, and received funding and assistantships once I was heard. Since my time as an Associate Instructor in the Music Theory Department at Indiana University, I have taken on the role of a Union Representative, advocating for graduate students who are underfunded and disenfranchised for the lack of respect given to their work. In the countless hours of meetings, outreach work, and recruitment, I have had the pleasure of rekindling my relationship with UIC, my alma mater, in conversations with their graduate workers about striking for equitable treatment. Grad Workers Union is a play on the late composer, Louis Andriessen’s open instrumentation work Workers Union. Each section depicts the strength of community I’ve found advocating for fair treatment; the shift from pleasant attempts at conversation with the administration, to full blown striking in solidarity with faculty, graduate students, undergraduate students and the community at large; and the reconciliation from the administration and recognition of our unionizing efforts. Each part is democratic and equally important to the message of the work.”
-Program note by composer
Conductor Biographies
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Dr. Jonathan Villela is currently one of eighteen Americans to hold the Luce Fellowship title awarded by the Henry Luce Foundation. Through Luce, Dr. Villela has served as a guest educator and visitor within the Kingdom of Thailand and Singapore. Further, Villela serves as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois Chicago where he works with instrumental ensembles, conducting courses, and chamber music. Within his Luce Year, Dr. Villela garnered guest conducting positions with The Thailand Philharmonic (Bangkok, Thailand), West Winds (Singapore), and many secondary schools and junior colleges. He was also a featured lecturer and conducting clinician for the Band Directors Association of Singapore and Wind Bands Association of Singapore. A graduate of The University of Texas, Dr. Villela worked with concert ensembles, undergraduate conducting instruction, graduate wind literature, and the Longhorn Band. At The University of Texas, Dr. Villela was named recipient of the Richard E. Rainwater Grant for Innovation, the Austin Cultural Arts Initiative, and the Texas Music Educators Graduate Scholarship. As a community activist, Villela served as an appointed council member of the Texas Civic Impact Council where he contributed to solutions for minority-owned small businesses and developed recovery strategies in response to COVID-19. Villela taught at Four Points Middle School (Leander ISD) where he conducted the group at the 69th Midwest Clinic and was a presenter in the following year. As a guest conductor of Cedar Park Winds, Villela led the ensemble’s submission to the international conference, thus yielding the group’s invitation and performance at the 71st Midwest Clinic where they premiered Donald Grantham’s Effulgent Light. Vilela served as a guest conductor of the Dallas Winds and was featured in the ensemble’s performance, Mozart vs. Varèse. Dr. Villela studied conducting under the tutelage of Maestro Jerry Junkin.
Conductor Biographies
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Jordan Kamps is a Chicago based percussionist currently teaching Percussion Ensemble, American Popular Music, Fundamentals of Music Theory, and Applied Percussion at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Outside the university, Jordan actively teaches high school marching bands in Wisconsin. He has taught groups in both the WSMA fall circuit and the MACBDA summer circuit. As a performer, Jordan has performed with such varying groups as the Extra Crispy Brass Band, Milwaukee Bucks NBA Drumline, and Chicago Arts Orchestra. Recent recordings include "Joy" and "Life" by the artist Sleeping At Last, the premier recording of Music for 5 Musicians by Marc Mellits, and the premier recording of Festiduous Notes by Jay Kawarsky with the Chicago Arts Orchestra. Jordan performed as a member of the backing orchestra for parts of the international tours of Evanesence, Celtic Thunder, Lindsey Stirling, Hanson, and Streetlight Manifesto. Jordan holds a Bachelors of Music in Percussion Performance from the University of Wisconsin Whitewater and a Masters of Music in Percussion Performance from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. Jordan currently performs with Cream City Percussion, a percussion quartet from Milwaukee, WI; Callaloo, a jazz-world fusion percussion group; and the Four Star Brass Band, a New Orleans style brass band in Chicago. While being an active performer, Jordan stays connected to new works for percussion. He has been active in several commissions and premiers of new works for both percussion and chamber music. In 2016, Jordan premiered Architecture of a Dream by Kevin Bobo, a marimba concerto for Wind Ensemble. Jordan has also been a part of the premiers of works by Ivan Trevino, John Henneken, Dan Forrest, and Marc Mellits. Jordan Kamps plays Marimba One and is proud to support them as a Premier Artist. Jordan is also a Black Swamp Percussion Educator
UIC Concert Series Spring 2022 See you next year!
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Mission
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The School of Theatre & Music provides innovative, rigorous, and comprehensive academic and performance programs as part of our diverse, urban context. Our programs develop practical knowledge, cultural sensitivity, intellectual resourcefulness, and imaginative daring in emerging artists and scholars. We connect students to Chicago's abundant, vibrant theatre culture and to the city's dynamic jazz and classical music networks.
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