YALE CONCERT BAND - Vivid Colors -
Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director
Friday, February 17, 2017 7:30 pm Woolsey Hall, Yale University
Program
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
THOMAS C. DUFFY
SIMON HUTCHINSON
KAREL HUSA
Festive Overture
And Flights of Angels Sing Thee to Thy Rest
Hiraizumi* (world premiere)
Les Couleurs Fauves (Vivid Colors) I. Persistent Bells II. Ritual Dance Masks
~ INTERMISSION ~
RICHARD STRAUSS
NANCY GALBRAITH
PAUL HART
Serenade for Winds, Op. 7
Danza de los Duendes (Dance of the Goblins)
Cartoon
*commissioned with funds from the Robert Flanagan Yale Band Commissioning Endowment
YALE CONCERT BAND
About Tonight’s Music Festive Overture (1954) DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (trans. Donald Hunsberger) Dmitri Shostakovich composed Festive Overture for orchestra in 1954 and arranged it for Russian military band in 1958. The work premiered at a concert meant to commemorate the 37th anniversary of the October Revolution held at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre. In 1965, Donald Hunsberger recorded the 1958 version for American band. Hunsberger states of the piece, “It contains one of Shostakovich’s greatest attributes – the ability to write a long, sustained melodic line combined with a pulsating rhythmic drive. In addition to the flowing melodic passages, there are also examples of staccato rhythmic sections which set off the flowing line and the variant fanfares. It is truly a ‘festive’ overture.” And Flights of Angels Sing Thee to Thy Rest (2000) THOMAS C. DUFFY This piece was written to honor the memory of Stanley D. Hettinger, Director of Bands, University of New Hampshire. Its title comes from the famous lines of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, in which Horatio, witnessing Hamlet’s death, declares, “Now cracks a noble heart. Good Night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest! Why does the drum come hither?” This memorial piece was performed in January, 2017, by a combined Cornell and Yale Universities Wind Ensemble in Port Au Prince, Haiti, as part of the ceremonies commemorating the seven-year anniversary of the devastating earthquake. Hiraizumi (2015) SIMON HUTCHINSON Simon Hutchinson wrote Hiraizumi to honor the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the same name, a cluster of 12th-century Buddhist temples in the hills of northern Japan. These ancient structures set in the picturesque setting of rural Japan were a favorite spot for Hutchinson to visit while he worked and studied in Iwate. This piece, written for a large chamber ensemble, was commissioned by a consortium of wind groups, of which the Yale Concert Band is one. Simon Hutchinson’s work incorporates his experience in diverse musical styles from across the world. Drawing especially from jazz, the avant-garde, the Baroque, and the traditions of Japan, Korea, and Indonesia, Hutchinson creates music and intermedia art that engage with the relationships between art, technology, and society. Hutchinson holds a PhD in Composition with supporting coursework in Intermedia Music Technology from the University of Oregon. He spent several years in Japan studying shamisen (three-stringed lute) and Japanese Folk Music with virtuoso Sato Chouei and shakuhachi (vertical bamboo flute) with Master Sato Chikuen. He is currently Assistant Professor of Music and Sound Recording at the University of New Haven. Les Couleurs Fauves (Vivid Colors) (2012) KAREL HUSA The Czech-born American composer Karel Husa was one of the most innovative classical music forces of
the last 100 years. A winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the lucrative Grawemeyer Award, Husa’s mature style was a “mix of formal rigor, dramatic vitality, and avant-garde techniques used to illuminate ethical concerns.” He was elected to the Academy of Arts and Letters in 1994 and traveled widely as a guest conductor, lecturer, and instructor. According to Husa, “I have always been fascinated by colors, not only in music, but also in nature and art. The paintings of the Impressionists and Fauvists have been particularly attractive to me, and their French origin accounts for the French title of my piece. The two movements (‘Persistent Bells’ and ‘Ritual Dance Masks’) gave me the chance to play with the colors – sometimes gentle, sometimes raw – of the wind ensemble.” Serenade for Winds, Op. 7 (1881) RICHARD STRAUSS Richard Strauss composed his Serenade for Winds when he was only 17 years old. The composition brought Strauss to the attention of the great conductor Hans von Bülow, who hired the young composer to be his assistant conductor with the Meiningen Orchestra, launching his well-known conducting career. The music is cast in one large movement that beautifully embraces a short sonata form and is reminiscent of Mozart’s adagios. Although one of Strauss’s first works, all of his typical qualities are present – the long, arching melodic lines, rich harmonic textures, and instrumental virtuosity. The delightful nature of the melodies and Strauss’s knowledgeable use of the instruments make this piece a gem of the wind instrument literature. Danza de los Duendes (Dance of the Goblins) (1996) NANCY GALBRAITH Nancy Galbraith is a notably prolific and creative composer still working today. Her musical style has been praised for its “energetic combination of melody and rhythm, its bright orchestral palette, and its lyrical finesse.” Galbraith composed Danza de los Duendes (Dance of the Goblins) for Argentina’s Orquesta Sinfónica de Tucumán, which premiered the work in 1992. In 1996, she rescored it for wind symphony. The piece’s title, an afterthought suggested by the composer’s student, refers to fantastical creatures that mischievously haunt children at play while their parents are distracted. Hiding in trees and bushes, los duendes are often blamed for recreational accidents and are thought to be the spirits of dead children now dwelling in a state of ghostly purgatory. Cartoon (1991) PAUL HART Cartoon is a whistle-blowing, car-horn-honking, bongo-beating tribute to the innovative music behind the Saturday morning cartoons that are such an important part of American childhood memories. According to the publisher’s notes, “ It’s all here! The big opening credits, the cat-and-mouse tease-and-chase, the strutting swagger, and, of course, the big finale!” Come up with your own cartoon to go along with the music you hear. Listen for the over-eager puppy, the thwarted and forlorn jilted lover, and even a cat falling off a cliff! Paul Hart is a prolific composer and arranger who has worked extensively in films and television. His output ranges from advertising jingles, to full-length feature film scores, to contemporary classical music.
YALE CONCERT BAND
Upcoming Yale Bands Performances • Monday, March 6, 2017: Yale Jazz Ensemble Spring Concert. Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director. Music by Thad Jones, Count Basie, Earl Hagen, Hoagy Carmichael, and more. 7:30 pm. Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall. Free. • Friday, April 7, 2017: Yale Concert Band Spring Concert. Symphony from Ivy Green (Mark Camphouse), based on writings by Helen Keller, Janna Baty, soprano; Roma (Valerie Coleman); Danzon (Arturo Márquez). 7:30 pm, Woolsey Hall. Free. • Sunday, April 9, 2017: Stan Wheeler Memorial Jazz Concert. Yale Jazz Ensemble, Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director, and the Reunion Jazz Ensemble. 2:00 pm, Levinson Auditorium, Yale Law School, 127 Wall Street. Free. • Sunday, May 21, 2017: Yale Concert Band Annual Twilight Concert. Ceremonial music on the eve of Yale’s Commencement. 7:00 pm, outside on the Old Campus. Free.
About the Music Director Thomas C. Duffy (b. 1955) is Professor (Adjunct) of Music and Director of University Bands at Yale University, where he has worked since 1982. He has established himself as a composer, a conductor, a teacher, an administrator, and a leader. His interests and research range from non-tonal analysis to jazz, from wind band history to creativity and the brain. Under his direction, the Yale Bands have performed at conferences of the College Band Directors National Association and New England College Band Association; for club audiences at NYC’s Village Vanguard and Iridium, Ronnie Scotts’s (London), and the Belmont (Bermuda); performed as part of the inaugural ceremonies for President George H.W. Bush; and concertized in nineteen countries in the course of sixteen international tours. Duffy produced a two-year lecture/performance series, Music and the Brain, with the Yale School of Medicine; and, with the Yale School of Nursing, developed a musical intervention to train nursing students to better hear and identify body sounds with the stethoscope. He combined his interests in music and science to create a genre of music for the bilateral conductor - in which a “split-brained conductor” must conduct a different meter in each hand, sharing downbeats. His compositions have introduced a generation of school musicians to aleatory, the integration of spoken/sung words and “body rhythms” with instrumental performance, and the pairing of music with political, social, historical and scientific themes. He has been awarded the Yale Tercentennial Medal for Composition, the Elm/ Ivy Award, the Yale School of Music Cultural Leadership Citation and certificates of appreciation by the United States Attorney’s Office for his Yale 4/Peace: Rap for Justice concerts – music programs designed for social impact by using the power of music to deliver a message of peace and justice to impressionable middle and high school students. From 1996 to 2006, he served as associate, deputy and acting dean of the Yale School of Music. He has served as a member of the Fulbright National Selection Committee, the Tanglewood II Symposium planning committee, and the Grammy Foundation Music Educators Award Screening Committee, and completed the MLE program at the Harvard University Institute for Management and Leadership in Education. He has served as: president of the Connecticut Composers Inc., the New England College Band Directors Association and the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA); editor of the CBDNA Journal, publicity chair for the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles; and chair of the Connecticut Music Educators Association’s Professional Affairs and Government Relations committees. For nine years, he represented music education in Yale’s Teacher Preparation Program. He is a member of American Bandmasters Association, American Composers Alliance, the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, Connecticut Composers Incorporated, the Social Science Club, and BMI. Duffy has conducted ensembles all over the world and most recently was selected to conduct the 2011 NAFME National Honor Band in the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.
YALE CONCERT BAND 2016-2017 THOMAS C. DUFFY, Music Director STEPHANIE HUBBARD, Business Manager
Piccolo Evan Fojtik MUS 17 Flute Beatrice Brown PC 19*† Principal Neyén Romano BK 18* Monica Barbosa DC 19† Julia Cai BR 20 Hayley Kolding SY 17 Matthew Le JE 20 Joan Gomez-Aguilar BK 20 Seungjung Sohn ES 19 Oboe Jake Houston CC 19*† Principal Michelle Nguyen MUS 17*† English Horn Lauren Williams MUS 18 Eb Clarinet Andrew Brod BK 17 Clarinet Christopher Zhou PC 19* Keith L. Wilson Principal Clarinet Chair** Alexander Ringlein BR 18*† Alison Ho CC 20† Jessica Oki TC 20 Anson Wang DC 17 Christian Fernandez TC 20 Alex Brod BK 19 Madeline Bender TD 20 Heather McClure ES 20 Ellie Handler ES 18 Betsy Li SY 18 Jonathan Weiss JE 20
Bass Clarinet Libby Dimenstein MC 17† Principal
Trombone Luke Benz SM 19† Principal William Burns MC 20 Matthew Kegley PC 19 Eliud Garcia MUS 17
Bassoon Bradford Case SM 20*† Principal Lily Sands TD 18*† Jorge Nunez MC 20
Euphonium Kevin Truong SM 20
Soprano Saxophone Antonio Medina SM 19†
Tuba Josef Lawrence TC 20*† Principal Alison Ross CC 20
Alto Saxophone Antonio Medina SM 19 Principal Onyx Brunner MC 20†
String Bass Andrew Muench
Tenor Saxophone Daniel Morgan TC 18†
Piano Julia Weiner BK 19†
Baritone Saxophone Sara Harris SY 19†
Organ David Simon MUS 17
Cornet/Trumpet (rotating) Eli Baum JE 19 Principal Christoph Funke ES 19 Noah Montgomery CC 19 Holt Sakai BR 18 Jacob Zavatone-Veth SM 19
Timpani Rebecca Leibowitz TC 18
French Horn (rotating) John McNamara CC 17*† Principal Derek Boyer BR 18* Allison Hammer DC 20 Michael McNamara TD 20* Nishwant Swami SM 17*† Brandon Wanke MC 17
Percussion Melina Delgado TD 19† Nasser Odetallah BR 20† Jonathan Roig ES 18† David Zuckerman DC 20† * performing in Serenade for Winds † performing in Hiraizumi **Friends of Keith Wilson (Director of Yale Bands from 1946–1973) honored him by endowing the principal clarinet chair in the Yale Concert Band in his name. If you would like information about naming a Yale Concert Band chair, please contact the Yale Bands office.
YALE CONCERT BAND OFFICERS President: Antonio Medina Personnel Manager: Jonathan Roig General Managers: Christopher Zhou, David Zuckerman Publicity Chair: Beatrice Brown Social Chairs: Melina Delgado, Christian Fernandez
Yale University Bands P.O. Box 209048, New Haven, CT 06520–9048 ph: (203) 432–4111; fax: (203) 432–7213 stephanie.hubbard@yale.edu; www.yale.edu/yaleband