THE ROAD IS LIFE
Richard Strauch, conductor
John Church, trombone
Melissa Jones, student conductor
The Whitworth Wind Symphony
Richard Strauch, conductor
John Church, trombone
The Road Is Life
Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, 3 p.m.
The Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox PROGRAM
Chorale and Alleluia Howard Hanson (1896-1981)
Medieval Suite Ron Nelson (1929-2023)
1. Homage to Leonin
2. Homage to Perotin
3. Homage to Machaut
Concerto for Trombone Nino Rota (1911-1979)
1. Allegro giusto arr. Marco Somadossi
2. Lento, ben ritmato
3. Allegro moderato
John Church, trombone
INTERMISSION
Folk Song Suite Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
1. March, Seventeen Come Sunday
2. Intermezzo, My Bonny Boy
3. March, Folk Songs from Somerset
Melissa Jones, student conductor
Symphony No. 2, “The Road Is Life” James M. David (b. 1978)
1. Junkman’s Obbligato
2. Intricate Shreds
3. I Saw God in the Sky
4. The Machinery of the Night
Commissioning Consortium Premiere
Program Notes
Howard Hanson, Chorale
and Alleluia
Completed in January 1954, Chorale and Alleluia was Hanson's first work for symphonic band. It received its premiere on February 26 of that year at the convention of the American Bandmasters Association at West Point, with Colonel William Santelmann, leader of the U.S. Marine Band, conducting.
The composition opens with a fine flowing chorale. Soon the joyous Alleluia theme appears and is much in evidence throughout. A bold statement of a new melody makes its appearance in lower brasses in combination with the above themes. The effect is one of cathedral bells, religious exaltation, solemnity, and dignity. The music is impressive, straightforward, and pleasingly non-dissonant, and its resonance and sonority are ideally suited to the medium of the modern symphonic band. (Howard Hanson)
Ron Nelson, Medieval Suite
Ron Nelson composed Medieval Suite in homage to three great masters of the Middle Ages: Leonin (mid-12th century), Perotin (c. 1155-1200), and Machaut (c. 1300-1377). According to the composer, “These are neither transcriptions of their works nor attempts at emulating their respective styles. Rather, the music served as a sort of launching pad for three pieces which draw on some of the stylistic characteristics of music from that period, e.g., repetition of rhythmic patterns or modes, modules of sound, proportions that produce octaves, fourths and fifths, use of Gregorian chant, syncopation, long pedal points where a sustained tone regulates melodic progression.
“Homage to Leonin evokes his sinuous melodic style and use of Gregorian chant. It is a "mood piece" in which a chant on the Dorian mode is gradually transformed into a perfectly symmetrical eight-tone scale. The movement follows the form of an arch with a large climax, after which it closes as it began.
“Homage to Perotin springs from his Viderunt, with its driving rhythmic intensity, repetition, and pedal points. The opening section features insistent dissonances in alternation with brass fanfare-like passages. A second theme played by unison brass is written in the Aeolian mode.
“Homage to Machaut evokes the stately, gently syncopated and flowing sounds of this master of choral writing. The movement consists of a statement with two repetitions, each with different instrumentation. It closes with the same chant and instrumental textures which opened the suite.”
Nino Rota, Concerto for Trombone
The Italian composer Nino Rota was a renowned child prodigy -- his first oratorio, L'infanzia di San Giovanni Battista, was written at age 11 and performed in Milan and Paris as early as 1923; his three-act lyrical comedy after Hans Christian Andersen, Il Principe Porcaro, was composed when he was just 13 and published in 1926. He studied at the Milan conservatory there under Giacomo Orefice and then undertook serious study of composition under Ildebrando Pizzetti and Alfredo Casella at the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome, graduating in 1930. It was, however, as a composer of music for cinema that Rota rose to fame. He composed more than 150 scores for Italian and international productions from the 1930s until his death in 1979 – an average of three film scores each year over a 46-year period; in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, he wrote as many as ten scores a year. Perhaps his best-known film scores were for the first two of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather trilogy, the second of which earned him an Academy Award for Best Original Score in 1974.
Rota’s success as a composer for cinema overshadows a wealth of concert music that he also produced. The Concert for Trombone and Orchestra, composed in 1966, is a typical example of Rota’s classical production. The concerto was premiered in Milan on May 6, 1969, by trombonist Bruno Ferrari (to whom Rota dedicated the concerto).
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Folk Song Suite
Folk Song Suite was commissioned by the band of the Royal Military School of Music. It was premiered on July 4, 1923, at Kneller Hall, H.E. Adkins conducting. In three movements, the suite contains many different folk songs from the Norfolk and Somerset regions of England, including Seventeen Come Sunday, Pretty Caroline, Dives and Lazarus, My Bonny Boy, Green Bushes, Blow Away the Morning Dew, High Germany, and The Tree So High. Historically, the suite is considered (along with Gustav Holst’s two suites for military band) to be a
cornerstone work in the literature, and one of the earliest “serious” works for the wind band. Vaughan Williams later arranged the work for orchestra and published in 1924 under the title English Folk Song Suite. (Nikk Pilato)
James M. David, Symphony No. 2, The Road Is Life
“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life”
- Jack Kerouac, On the Road
Inspired by the Beat Generation writers, James M. David’s second symphony explores the music, landscape, and culture of post-war America that also fueled the works of these seminal authors.
The composer writes:
Why the Beats? Why Now?
For me, the Beat Generation writers represent a fascinating moment in American history that mirrors some of the anxieties felt today. The postwar boom era inspired a new self-awareness in these writers that continues to challenge and confront readers. The Beats saw modern America as beautiful, perplexing, and often frustrating, but still believed the future could be better. I feel their words and ideas can be just as powerful as we head into the second quarter of the 21st century.
Movement Structure
Each of the four movements corresponds to an excerpt by one of the Beat writers and an American place associated with each of them. Further, the music of each place is explored alongside the language.
I. Junkman's Obbligato (New York City) - This fiery poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti deals with the complex and testy emotions of Greenwich Village in the late 1940s and was distinctly influenced by jazz. Swing and bebop intermingle with mid-century modernism, with stabbing brass and percussion alongside swirling winds.
II. Intricate Shreds (New Orleans) - Poet Bob Kaufman often referenced jazz alongside fears of nuclear war and the rise of authoritarianism. Here, a soulful clarinet and saxophone duet recall Sidney Bechet alongside an ominous heartbeat of the second line "big four" rhythm.
III. I Saw God in the Sky (Colorado) - Jack Kerouac spent significant time in Colorado with his friend Neal Cassady (the inspiration for Dean Moriarty in On the Road). This movement will use my own language to express the beauty and transcendence of the high desert of the Rockies as described by Kerouac.
IV. The Starry Dynamo (San Francisco) - Finally, Alan Ginsberg's immortal Howl was published shortly after his move to California. A psychedelic infernal dance utilizes Afro-Latin rhythms to conclude the work with an emphatic and breathless finale.
Symphony No. 2 was commissioned by a consortium of university wind symphonies, including the Whitworth Wind Symphony. It was premiered by the University of North Texas Wind Orchestra on October 24, 2024.
- Program Note by James M. David
About the Wind Symphony
The threefold mission of the Whitworth Wind Symphony is to train and educate musicians for a lifetime of musical learning; to represent Whitworth’s mind-and-heart education through excellence in performance before audiences on campus, throughout the community and across the globe; and to advocate for and promote wind literature through the study and performance of the ensemble’ s core repertoire as well as the commissioning of new works.
The Whitworth Wind Symphony has appeared in concert at state and regional conferences of the Washington Music Educators Association, the National Association for Music Education and the College Band Directors National Association, and has toured throughout the western United States and in Hawaii, Costa Rica and Thailand. The wind symphony can also be heard in performance on the ensemble’s YouTube channel (youtube.com/whitworthwinds).
As the university’s select auditioned wind and percussion ensemble, the wind symphony has been active in commissioning new works and collaborating with composers around the world. Noted composers David Maslanka, Eric Ewazen, James David and Peter Van Zandt Lane have praised the wind symphony’s performances of their music, and recent performance collaborations have included saxophonist Lawrence Gwozdz, bass trombonist Douglas Yeo and the Travis Brass
of the United States Air Force. The ensemble is open by audition to all Whitworth University students in any major who are woodwind, brass, percussion or string bass musicians.
The other components of the wind and percussion studies program at Whitworth include the Whitworth Chamber Winds, Whitworth Symphony Orchestra, the Whitworth Concert Band and a variety of chamber ensembles.
About the Soloist
John Church is principal trombone of the Spokane Symphony and the Portland Opera, and is professor of trombone and euphonium at Whitworth University.
John was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. He began his trombone and music journey in the sixth grade, and in seventh grade he started private lessons with Michael Oft. Once in high school, John joined the Metropolitan Youth Symphony (MYS), and subsequently joined the Portland Youth Philharmonic (PYP) until graduation. After graduating high school in 2011 John began his undergraduate studies at the University of Oregon, where he pursued a Bachelors degree in Music Performance and studied with trombone professor Henry Henniger. During that time, he began his professional career as an orchestral trombonist by working as a substitute musician with the Oregon Symphony, the Eugene Symphony, the Portland Opera, and the Astoria Music Festival.
After Oregon, he continued his studies at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, where he studied with Allen Barnhill. During his time at Rice, he toured with the Shepherd Symphony Orchestra to New York and performed in Carnegie Hall. Before graduating, John won his first orchestral job as Principal trombone of Portland Opera, and won the Shepherd School of Music concerto competition, with the Nino Rota Concerto for Trombone. In the summer of 2018, he won the principal trombone position in the Spokane Symphony. In addition to Whitworth, John maintains his own private studio. He currently resides in Spokane.
About the Conductor
Richard Strauch is in his 28th year as director of the Whitworth Wind Symphony and professor of music at Whitworth University. He also conducts the Whitworth Chamber Winds, teaches courses in music history and conducting, and leads Whitworth’s Power & Politics of Art: Rome/Florence/Vienna/Berlin study program. Prior to joining the Whitworth music faculty, Strauch served as director of instrumental activities at Phillips University, acting director of the Wheaton College Wind Ensemble and assistant to the director of bands at Yale University. He has toured Europe as music director of the Oklahoma Ambassadors of Music and as conductor of the Fox Valley Youth Orchestra. An active professional trombonist, he is a member of the Spokane Symphony Orchestra, and his other performance credits include the Clarion Brass Choir, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the National Orchestral Institute and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Strauch holds doctor of musical arts, master of musical arts and master of mu sic degrees in trombone performance from Yale University, and a bachelor of music degree in trombone performance and music history from the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music.
Piccolo
Valerie Hanes, ’27
The Whitworth Wind Symphony 2024-25
Physics Spokane
Emily Nixon Faculty Spokane
Flute
Nevaeh Gariepy, ’25
Rachelle Austin, ’28
Elizabeth Addison, ’28
Music Education Spokane
Music Education Spokane
Music Education Deer Park
Tori Ratliff, ’28 Biology Forest Grove, OR
Oboe
Samarra Salcido, ’26
Hope Noranbrock, ’25
Melody Hough, ’28
Bassoon
Zoë Johnson, ‘27
Celeste Depew, ’28
Clarinet
Bar Rozenhaimer, ’27
Kylie Mitchell, ’27
James Fischer, ’28
Music Spokane
Music Nine Mile Falls
Music Composition Spokane
Music Ed Spokane
Psychology/English Lynden
History/Philosophy West Linn, OR
Music Ed Cheney
Music Spokane
Noah Wells, ’28 Computer Science Post Falls, ID
Lila Gamero, ’27 Elementary Ed Spokane
Mason Groth, ’26 Chemistry Coeur d’Alene
Rosalind Nordberg, ’27 Environmental Sci. Bellevue
Luciano Bellissimo, ’27 Music Comp./Comp. Sci. Cashmere, WA
Bass Clarinet
Colton Nussbaum, ’25 Business Raymond
Robert Weener, ’24
Soprano/Alto Saxophone
Melissa Jones, ’25
Alto Saxophone
Max Cannon, ’25
Will Peterson, ’26
Tenor Saxophone
Nicholas Kar, ‘27
Baritone Saxophone
Data Science Sherwood, OR
Music Education Richland
Music Performance Spokane
Music Education Spokane
Math Education Spokane
Nathaniel Kurano, ’28 Engineering Honolulu, HI
Horn
Isaac Crawford-Heim, ’26 Health Science Spokane
Samuel Wisenor, 28 English Spokane
Stella Reitz, ’25 Neuroscience Marysville
Hannah Marcoe, ’27
Trumpet
Julia Maher, ’26
Matthew Thornell, ’26
Alexis Hochberg, ’28
Math/Secondary Ed. Moscow, ID
Music Education Whidbey Island
Sports Business Kingston
Music Education Liberty Lake
Anthony Cao, ’25 Chemistry Spokane
Faith Willard, ’27
Dakota Bair, ’28
Trombone
William Strauch, ’27
Conor Waller, ’25
Makenna FalkensteinBarker,’24
Music Education Spokane
Music Ministry Lake Steven s
Music Performance Spokane
Music Composition Spokane
Elementary Education Lewiston, ID
Caeden Harrison, ’25 Theology Houston, TX
Euphonium
Jacob Blomdahl, ’25 Engineering Chehalis
Jacob Blair, ’25 Chemistry Spokane
Tuba
Michael Perry, ’27
Julian Crandell, ’28
Bass
Stephen Swanson
Piano
Isaac Dorcy, ’27
Percussion
Music Performance Richland
Music Composition Deer Park
Guest Artist Spokane
Music Composition Shelton
Ryland Gabriel, ’26 Psychology Spokane
Luke Wagner, ’25
Dom Macauley, ’25
Computer Science Clackamas, OR
ELA Education Kahului, HI
Madeleine Lyon, ’26 Biology Hockinson
Hannah Lind, ’27
Loren Lehne, ’27
Front End Design Liberty Lake
Biochemistry Damascus, OR
Leigh Wilson Faculty Spokane
WHITWORTH UNIVERSITY
Since 1890, Whitworth has held fast to its founding mission to provide “an education of mind and heart” through rigorous intellectual inquiry guided by dedicated Christian scholars. Recognized as one of the top regional colleges and universities in the West, Whitworth University has an enrollment of about 2,500 students and offers more than 100 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
Whitworth University’s 200-acre campus of red-brick buildings and tall pines offers a beautiful, inviting and secure learning environment. More than $115 million in campus improvements have been made in recent years, including an expanded music center, a renovated auditorium stage, an expanded dining hall, a rec center, a science hall, an athletics leadership center and a graduate health sciences building.
In all of its endeavors, Whitworth seeks to advance its founder’s mission of equipping students to “honor God, follow Christ and serve humanity.”
For application information: Office of Admissions
Whitworth University
300 W. Hawthorne Road Spokane, WA 99251
509.777.3212
admissions@whitworth.edu whitworth.edu/admissions
MUSIC AT WHITWORTH
The Whitworth University Music Department, accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music, provides superb training in music as well as a thorough introduction to this essential element of the liberal arts. Whitworth music majors have gone on to prestigious graduate schools, fulfilling performance careers and successful teaching positions. Also, many non-music majors participate in the university’s renowned touring ensembles and enroll in private lessons through the music department. Whitworth University offers bachelor of arts degrees in music ministry, composition, instrumental performance, jazz performance, piano performance, piano pedagogy, string pedagogy, voice performance and music education. Music scholarships are available to both music majors and non-majors.
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