University of Texas at San Antonio Symphonic Band
MDST Nursing (Round Rock, TX)
Marissa Knopf
Music Education (San Antonio, TX)
Kylie Nix
Music Education (Bastrop, TX)
Jordan Rodriguez
Music Education (Brownsville, TX)
Abigail Valadez
Music Education (Mission, TX)
Oboe
Samuel Coleman
Computer Science (San Antonio, TX)
August Naranjo
Music Education (Kingsville, TX)
Hannah Pais
Music Education (San Antonio, TX)
Bassoon
Matheo Botello
Computer Science (Roma, TX)
Clarinet
Abigail Barcenas
Computer Science (Cibolo, TX)
Cianna Escamilla
Music Education (Pflugerville, TX)
Jaden Hernandez
Music Composition (San Antonio, TX)
Ethan Mendiola
Music Education (Helotes, TX)
Isabella Miranda
Music Education (Austin, TX)
Maria Pitts
Actuarial Science (Leander, TX)
Kayla Santos
Music Education (Crane, TX)
Bass Clarinet
Ethan Aguilar
Music Performance (San Antonio, TX)
Jose Gomez
Music Performance (Lytle, TX)
Alto Saxophone
Rachel Blakeney
Music Education (Harker Heights, TX)
Esaú Hernandez
Music Education (Cedar Creek, TX)
Tenor Saxophone
Richard Ytuarte
Music Education (Converse, TX)
Baritone Saxophone
Isaiah Rodriguez
Music Education (San Marcos, TX)
Horn
James Gonzales
Music Education (San Antonio, TX)
Francis Maille
Music Education (San Antonio, TX)
Eloisa Payne
Music Education (New Braunfels, TX)
Myrna Ramirez
Music Education (Lufkin, TX)
Trumpet
Kenedy Cardenas
Music Education (San Antonio, TX)
Xavier Contreras
Music Education (San Antonio, TX)
Madeline Garcia
Music Education (Midland, TX)
Joseph Middleton
Music Education (Yoakum, TX)
Normandy Morzynski
Physics (Montgomery, TX)
Samuel Spencer
Music Education (Boerne, TX)
Daniel Vazquez
Music Education (Los Angeles, CA)
Trombone
Michael Dominguez
Music Education (San Antonio, TX)
Todd Lewis
Music Education (San Antonio, TX)
Jayden Zunker-Trevino
Music Education (Austin, TX)
Bass Trombone
Nathaniel Duarte
Computer Engineering (Austin, TX)
Euphonium
Finley Farrar
Music Education (San Antonio, TX)
Michael Hernandez
Music Education (Kyle, TX)
T uba
Frankie Rodriguez
Music Education (San Antonio, TX)
Michael Rodriguez
M.Acy., Accounting (Del Rio, TX)
Jayson Summer
Music Composition (San Antonio TX)
Percussion
Antonio Bravo
Music Performance (San Antonio, TX)
Erin Faehnle
Music Education (Marble Falls, TX)
Gabriel Leal
Music Marketing (San Antonio, TX)
Nicolas Morales
Music Education (Laredo, TX)
Lio Palacios
Music Education (Corpus Christi, TX)
Ivan Ventura
Music Education (Laredo, TX)
Piano
Ethan Aguilar
Music Composition (Helotes, TX)
Assisting Musicians
Jared Worman, bassoon
Demtric Williams, double bass
Band Staff
Jordan Rodriguez, music librarian
Jared Worman, music librarian
Francis Maille, manager
Joseph Middleton, manager
Hannah Pais, manager
Maria Pitts, manager
Isaiah Rodriguez, manager
Roster is listed alphabetically to emphasize the important contribution made by each musician.
Conductor
John Zarco is Director of Instrumental Ensembles and Associate Professor of Music at the University of Texas at San Antonio. His responsibilities include conducting the UTSA Symphonic Band and University Band, in addition to teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in conducting, wind literature, and music education.
Prior to his appointment at UTSA, Dr. Zarco served as Director of Bands at Millersville University in Pennsylvania and as a public school instrumental music teacher at Saratoga High School, in Saratoga, California. He received a D.M.A. in conducting from the University of Minnesota as well as B.M. (music education) and M.M. (conducting) degrees from California State University, Sacramento. Dr. Zarco has been awarded honorary memberships in the national organizations of Pi Kappa Lambda, Sigma Alpha Iota, Kappa Kappa Psi, Tau Beta Sigma, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. His book, Rehearsing the Band, Volume 3 is published by Meredith Music Publications and is distributed by Hal Leonard.
Special thanks to the following for their ongoing support and dedication to the UTSA Bands:
Dr. Tracy Cowden, Director, School of Music
Dr. Stacey Davis, Associate Director, School of Music
Dr. Kasandra Keeling, Associate Director, School of Music
Naomy Ybarra, Administrative Services Officer 1
Steven Hill, Administrative Associate
Jared Davis, Senior Events Manager
Joey Berrios, Marketing Coordinator
Rico Gomez, Music Program Specialist, UTSA Bands
Prof. Ron Ellis, Director of Bands
Prof. Hector Garcia, Assistant Director of Athletic Bands
Prof. Sherry Rubins and Prof. Paul Millette, Percussion Area Faculty
Dr. Rachel Woolf and Dr. Oswaldo Zapata, Woodwind and Brass Area Coordinators
Prof. Troy Peters, Director of Orchestras
Dr. Yoojin Muhn, Director of Choral Activities
Dr. Jordan Boyd, Assistant Director of Choral Activities
UTSA School of Music Faculty
Jordan Rodriguez and Jared Worman, School of Music Librarians
UTSA Bands Managers
Follow Us!
Website: UTSABands.org
Instagram: @UTSABands
Facebook: UTSA Bands
Website: colfa.utsa.edu/music/
Facebook: UTSA School of Music
Instagram: @UTSAmusic
Twitter: @UTSAmusic
Program Notes
Compiled and Edited by John
Zarco
James M. David is an American composer and professor of music theory and composition at Colorado State University. His symphonic works have been performed and recorded by many prominent ensembles, including the U.S. Air Force Band, the U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own”, the U.S. Army Field Band, the U.S. Navy Band, the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Collins Symphony Orchestra, the Showa Wind Symphony (Japan), the Osaka Shion Wind Orchestra, and the North Texas Wind Symphony. His works are represented on over twenty commercially released recordings on the Naxos, Summit, Mark, Albany, Parma, MSR Classics, Bravo Music, GIA Windworks, and Luminescence labels. David received degrees in music education and music composition from the University of Georgia and the Florida State University College of Music. He studied composition with Guggenheim recipient Ladislav Kubik, Pulitzer recipient Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Lewis Nielson, and Clifton Callender as well as jazz composition and arranging with Sammy Nestico.
Of his composition, Urban Light , David states:
Urban Light is a brilliant display of colors, forward momentum, and intertwining rhythmic layers that is inspired by the iconic Los Angeles landmark of the same name. Created by conceptual art pioneer Chris Burden in 2008, the original work is an assemblage of historic streetlamps that were transplanted from various cities in California and also Portland, Oregon. The tight spacing and repetitive forms interact with the famously dynamic LA sunlight transitioning to the exciting nighttime glow of the city.
Primary melodic and rhythmic motives are derived from Morse code for the word “California,” creating an asymmetrical and syncopated groove that continuously builds in energy. Parallel “barre” chords reveal a classic rock/metal influence that reaches its zenith with a heavy percussion backbeat. Polyrhythmic layers and prismatic colors move over, around, and under each other, leading towards a hopefully thrilling and intense finale.
This work was commissioned by the National Band Association for its 60th anniversary and is dedicated to my wife who introduced me to the West Coast’s beauty and spirit.
[Program note from windrep.org]
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Karel Husa, winner of the 1993 Grawemeyer Award and the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Music, is an internationally known composer and conductor. An American citizen since 1959, Husa was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on August 7, 1921. After completing studies at the Prague Conservatory and, later, the Academy of Music, he went to Paris where he received diplomas from the Paris National Conservatory and the Ecole normale de musique. In 1954, Husa was appointed to the faculty of Cornell University where he was Kappa Alpha Professor until his retirement in 1992. He was elected Associate Member of the Royal Belgian Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1974 and has received honorary degrees of Doctor of Music from several institutions, including Coe College, the Cleveland Institute of Music, Ithaca College, and Baldwin Wallace College.
Al Fresco has its roots in Karel Husa’s 1947 orchestral work, Three Fresques for Orchestra, Op. 7. Because the first movement was driven by extensive wind writing, Husa found the perfect opportunity to reimagine the music for wind band upon receiving a commission to compose a work for the Ithaca College Concert Band. Fittingly, this keystone work was the first of the heralded Walter Beeler Memorial Commissions. The first performance was given by the Ithaca College Concert Band (Edward Gobrecht, director) at the MENC Convention in Philadelphia on April 19, 1975, with the composer as guest conductor.
Husa includes the following program note for the work:
Al Fresco has no programmatic content. However, the title indicates my admiration for the art of painting, especially mural painting on wet plaster. And I have always been greatly moved by the forceful, even grandiose and rough, mysterious pictures dealing with primitive life, war, and pageantry.
[Program note from windrep.org
Steven Bryant, the son of a professional trumpeter and music educator, composes music across a variety of media and ensembles, ranging from electronic and electro-acoustic works, to chamber music, to works for wind ensembles and orchestras. Bryant strongly values music education, and his creative output includes a number of works for young and developing musicians. Bryant's music has been performed by numerous ensembles across North America, Europe, and East Asia. He studied composition with John Corgliano at the Juilliard School, Cindy McTee at the University of North Texas, and Francis McBeth at Ouachita University. Bryant is also a three-time winner of the National Band Association's “William D. Revelli Composition Award.”
Of his piece, Nothing Gold Can Stay , Bryant writes:
Nothing Gold Can Stay was commissioned as a surprise gift for Kevin Sedatole in honor of his first ten years at Michigan State University. His conducting students spanning that decade, led by Jamal Duncan and Armand Hall, banded together and approached me at the 2015 College Band Directors National Convention in Nashville about writing the work, and I knew immediately that I couldn’t refuse this special project, made all the more appropriate because my wife, Verena, was one of Kevin’s very first students at MSU.
The music is my deliberate attempt to write a chorale – something simple, beautiful, and familiar. The deceptive surface simplicity of Robert Frost’s poem seems to coincide with this music, particularly the paradoxical descending of dawn to day, all embodying the concept of felix culpa, or “lucky fall” – the idea that loss can bring greater good, and is in fact necessary.
Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.
- Robert Frost
[Program note from windrep.org and the composer]
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Anne McGinty began her higher education at The Ohio State University, where Donald McGinnis was her mentor, band director and flute teacher. She left OSU to pursue a career in flute performance, and played principal flute with the Tucson (Arizona) Symphony Orchestra, Tucson Pops Orchestra, and in the TSO Woodwind Quintet. When she returned to college, she received her Bachelor of Music degree, summa cum laude, and Master of Music degree from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she concentrated on flute performance, music theory and composition. She studied flute and chamber music with Bernard Goldberg and composition with Joseph Willcox Jenkins. McGinty is a life member of the National Flute Association and served on its board of directors. She is also a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and has received annual composition awards since 1986.
The Red Balloon is an original composition based on a painting McGinty saw just once. The painting showed a small child and a grandfather, facing away. The two people and the background were done white on white. The only color in the painting was the red balloon, held by the child. The music depicts the balloon floating in air.
[Program note from windrep.org and the composer]
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Harry LaForrest Alford was a self-taught composer and arranger. He played trombone, piano, and organ. He studied at the Dana Musical Institute in Warren, Ohio, which is now part of Youngstown State University. He worked as a church organist and performed with touring minstrel shows, Wild West shows, and theatrical troupes. In 1903, Alford tired of traveling and organized his own free-lance arranging bureau in Chicago. This was a novel idea at that time, since arranging was considered to be a mere sideline, and Alford was ridiculed when he made it known that he intended to make a full-time living as an arranger. However, Alford elevated the arranger’s role to that of a creative artist; his ingenious and quirky orchestrations were a sensation. By 1910, his clientele, particularly in the field of vaudeville, was enormous Bandmasters John Philip Sousa, Patrick Conway, Arthur Pryor, Albert Austin Harding, and Merle Evans were loyal customers for not only Alford’s arrangements but his original band compositions as well. From 1904 to 1924, the Harry L. Alford Studio (which continued operations until 1940) produced over 34,000 separate arrangements. Today, Alford is best remembered as a composer of excellent marches He was a pioneer in both the school band movement and in the development of the football game half-time show.
Alford wrote The Purple Carnival March for bandmaster Glenn Cliffe Barnum, conductor of the Northwestern University Band, and his good friend. It premiered in 1933, and its minor tonality and low wind features have solidified it as a staple of the march literature in the decades since.
[Program note from windrep.org]
