YALE CONCERT BAND ~ Ivy Green ~
Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director
Friday, April 7, 2017 7:30 pm Woolsey Hall, Yale University
Program FRANK TICHELI WILLIAM GRANT STILL
Postcard (1991) From the Delta (1945) I. Work Song II. Spiritual III. Dance
JOHN PHILIP SOUSA
Washington Post March (1889)
ARTURO Mร RQUEZ
Danzรณn No. 2 (1998)
~ INTERMISSION ~
ED HUCKEBY
By the Rivers of Babylon (2000)
MARK CAMPHOUSE
with special guests
John Winthrop Middle School 8th Grade Band (Deep River, CT) Laura Traver, director/guest conductor
Symphony From Ivy Green (1999) Janna Baty, mezzo-soprano I. Prelude II. The Well III. Hold Out Your Hands IV. The Heart of Darkness V. Silence Sits Immense Upon My Soul VI. Epilogue (They Took Away)
YALE CONCERT BAND
About Tonight’s Music Postcard (1991) FRANK TICHELI Postcard’s composer, Frank Ticheli, writes, “Postcard was commissioned by my friend, colleague, and former mentor, H. Robert Reynolds, in memory of his mother, Ethel Virginia Curry. He requested that I compose not an elegy commemorating her death, but a short energetic piece celebrating her life. In response, I have composed this brief “postcard” as a musical reflection of her character – vibrant, whimsical, succinct. “It is cast in an ABA’ form. The primary theme, first heard in the flute and clarinet and used in the outer sections, is a palindrome – that is, it sounds the same played forwards or backwards. This theme honors a long-standing tradition in the Reynolds family of giving palindromic names (such as Hannah and Anna) to their children. H. Robert Reynolds’ first name is Harrah. The theme’s symmetry is often broken, sometimes being elongated, other times being abruptly cut off by unexpected events. “The B section is based on a five-note series derived from the name Ethel: E (E natural) T (te in the solfeggio system, B flat) H (in the German system, B natural) E (E-flat this time) L (la in the solfeggio system, A natural). The development of this motive can be likened to a journey through a series of constantly changing landscapes.” From the Delta (1945) WILLIAM GRANT STILL From the Delta’s composer, William Grant Still, writes, “Although in the past I have written music reminiscent of several other states of our Union, this is the first time that I have tried to express in music the romance of the Delta country in my native state of Mississippi. These three short pieces, however, are original. No one of them is based on authentic folk material. In the first section, ‘Work Song,’ the metal block on the piece of wood is used to suggest the sound of the sledge-hammer driving spikes. ‘Spiritual’ should be played with a singing style to give it just the right effect, and the last piece, ‘Dance,’ reflects a dancing game rather than a formal dance.” Washington Post March (1889) JOHN PHILIP SOUSA (arr. Frederick Fennell) American Composer and bandmaster John Philip Sousa, known as the “March King,” was the most important figure in the history of band music. With his 135 marches that have dominated the field, he was the march equivalent of the “Waltz King,” Johann Strauss Jr. Born in Washington, DC, Sousa organized his first musical ensemble, an adult quadrille, at age 11. He was about to run off with a circus band at 13 when his father had him enlisted as an apprentice musician in the US Marine Band. During the early Marine Band years Sousa performed professionally as a civilian violinist with several Washington theatre orchestras, simultaneously trying his hand at composition. His first successful march was The Gladiator in 1886. By 1892 he had organized his own band, known as Sousa’s Band, which toured North America yearly and made four
tours to Europe and one (1910-1911) around the world. During World War I, Sousa volunteered to serve in the US Navy, organizing fleet bands at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center. After the war, he continued touring with his band until the Great Depression. The last concert was presented at Atlantic City’s Steel Pier in September 1931. Sousa composed the Washington Post March in 1889, referring to the Marine contingent posted in the capital at that time, although the newspaper The Washington Post claimed that it was composed at its owner’s request for the paper’s essay contest awards ceremony. It was used around the world to dance the two-step, a popular dance of the time. Danzón No. 2 (1998) ARTURO MÁRQUEZ (arr. Oliver Nickel) Danzón No. 2 is an orchestral composition by Mexican composer Arturo Márquez. It is, along with José Pablo Moncayo’s Huapango, Carlos Chávez’s Sinfonia India, and Silvestre Revueltas’ Sensemayá, one of the most frequently performed orchestral Mexican contemporary classical music compositions. Danzón No. 2 gained great popularity worldwide when the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela under Gustavo Dudamel included it on its program for its 2007 European and American tour. Written for full orchestra, the piece features solos for clarinet, oboe, piano, violin, trumpet, and piccolo. The piece has also gained an important spot in the modern concert band literature through Oliver Nickel’s arrangement. The rhythmic interest in the piece is maintained through the use of varying accents and tempi. This staple of the contemporary Mexican music literature expresses and reflects on the dance style named danzón, which has its origins in Cuba but is a very important part of the folklore of the Mexican state of Veracruz. The music was inspired by a visit to a ballroom in Veracruz. A short film was made in 2009 using the piece as the main narrative device, in a Fantasia-like manner. It is set in Mexico City in the 1940s, the golden age of danzón, and the style is an homage to the Mexican cinema of the period. The film features Arturo Márquez in a cameo as the pianist of the dance-hall. It was premiered at the 8th Morelia Film Festival as part of its official lineup. By the Rivers of Babylon (2000) ED HUCKEBY Yale Bands Pre-College Invitational, 2017. For decades, the Yale Concert Band has incorporated conductors and musicians from Connecticut public schools in its concert programs. This year, we are honored to work with Laura Traver and the John Winthrop Middle School 8th Grade Band from Deep River, Connecticut. Ms. Traver will lead the combined bands in Ed Huckeby’s By the Rivers of Babylon.
YALE CONCERT BAND Symphony From Ivy Green (1999) MARK CAMPHOUSE According to the composer, “Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1954, Ivy Green (the birthplace of Helen Keller) is located on a lovely 642-acre tract in historic Tuscumbia, Alabama. “Like millions worldwide, I always held tremendous admiration for Helen Keller, and had at least a general understanding of her life and the inspirational courage and dignity she unfailingly displayed in overcoming such seemingly insurmountable obstacles. In thinking about her life as such a noble example for people everywhere, I became increasingly surprised that, to the best of my knowledge, no composer had ever set her memorable and very moving words to music. “Truly America’s first lady of courage, Helen Keller’s powerful and wonderfully lyrical writings (ideally suited to musical dramatization) are just as compelling now as they were when they first appeared over half a century ago. “Symphony from Ivy Green was commissioned by Marietta M. Paynter and was premiered on Northwestern University’s Evanston campus in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall on May 21, 1998. Performers were soprano soloist Elizabeth Curtis (my wife, and to whom the work is dedicated) and the Northwestern University Symphonic Wind Ensemble with Mallory Thompson conducting. “The following statement from the writings of Helen Keller may serve to introduce the composition: ‘According to all art, all nature, all coherent human thought; we knew that order, proportion, and form are essential elements of beauty. Now order, proportion, and form are palpable to the touch. But beauty and rhythm are deeper than sense. They are like love and faith. They spring out of the spiritual process only slightly dependent upon sensations. Order, proportion, form cannot breathe life into elements. Many persons, having perfect eyes are blind in their perceptions. Many persons, having perfect ears are emotionally deaf. Yet these are the ones who dare set limits to the visions of those who, lacking a sense or two, have will, soul, passion, imagination. Faith is a mockery if it teaches us not that we may construct a world unspeakably more complete and beautiful than the material world. And I, too, may construct my better world, for I am a child of God, an inheritor of a fragment of the Mind that created all worlds.’”
Senior Reflections Andrew Brod, BK ’17, Eb Clarinet My experiences with the Yale Concert Band have given me new appreciation for the universality of music. Throughout the world, it is both an integral aspect of cultural heritage and a means of bringing people together. My most memorable experiences of this cultural exchange were in Ghana: we shared our musical traditions with villagers who had never seen western instruments, while Ghanaian drummers demonstrated for us a mastery of their own traditional drumming. Even more remarkable for me, however, were the spontaneous cultural exchanges that music enabled. Toward the end of the trip, Ghanaian children pulled me aside and insisted that I listen to them sing their own national anthem, and then record it so that friends at home could listen as well. Just as the Concert Band sought to leave a mark through its performances, the Ghanaians wished to be remembered, above all, for their own music. My four years in the concert band have been extremely rewarding and memorable, and I’m grateful to Mr. Duffy and my fellow musicians for the opportunity to play with them. Libby Dimenstein, MC ’17, Bass Clarinet For four years, the Concert Band has been my most important extracurricular activity. I came to Yale knowing that I wanted to continue playing music, and I was so lucky to find such a welcoming community. As a freshman, I took up the bass clarinet after playing Bb clarinet for many years, and now I am extremely attached to the instrument. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to play a wide, wide variety of pieces, pieces that I would likely never encountered had Mr. Duffy not been so determined to create an innovative and balanced repertoire. Some of my favorites include Church Windows (Respighi), Cuban Overture (Gershwin), and Márquez’s Danzón No. 2 (which I have wanted to play for years!). Beyond the music, YCB provided me with an environment where I could grow as a person. I loved serving as President during our 2015-2016 season because the Concert Band members are generally wonderful people. I have also enjoyed working as Stephanie’s assistant for the past four years – as everyone who meets her knows, she is the most kind, dedicated manager around. Finally, and most importantly, YCB has given me an amazing set of friends who I hope to stay in touch with for years to come. Whether in New Haven, Italy, Greece, or Miami, being with them always makes me happy.
YALE CONCERT BAND Hayley Kolding, SY ’17, Flute The songs we play in YCB tend to get stuck in our heads. I still find myself humming Dances from Crete, J’ai été au bal, and Aegean Festival Overture. Lately, every time I turn a corner or climb a staircase in Hendrie, I hear whistled strains of Danzón. It makes me smile – I like the tune, and I like the people whistling. YCB, besides our rep, here’s what else is stuck in my head: rehearsals in beautiful golden Woolsey and in our home-sweet-home Hendrie; B’Dinners like family dinners; Woodwind vs. Low Brass kickball games at Lighthouse Point Park, and rematches during Dead Week. The time we backed up superstar Angelique Kidjo, and every time we rocked out to “Tumba” after the fact. Buying chocolate in Zurich, wining and dining with Luigi in Italy, and heeding the Oracle of Delphi; learning Greek dances on a boat, sleeping on buses, and laughing at classic Duffy Jokes till we cried. And then, all the times when the greatness of music really hit us – when we moved audiences, and were moved. Next year I’ll be teaching high school English in Hartford, CT, and writing poems. I’m incredibly excited, but I’ll miss this band a lot. I’ll come back to hear the concerts, and my door will always be open to all of you. Mr. Duffy and Stephanie, thank you for shepherding this group I love so much. YCB, thanks for keeping my heart humming. John McNamara, CC ’17, French Horn Participating in the Yale Band has easily been the most rewarding activity I have undertaken in college. It’s truly humbling sometimes to share the stage with these incredible players, and I’ve grown so much as a musician here at Yale. Over the past four years, the majority of my waking hours not devoted to school have been with either the Yale Concert Band or the Yale Precision Marching Band, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ve made so many incredible friendships and memories here: from performing with African superstar Angelique Kidjo, to exploring the Athenian Acropolis and Roman Colosseum on tour last May, to conducting the YPMB after we won The Game this year, it has been a fantastic journey. Thank you, Yale Band, especially Mr. Duffy and Stephanie, for everything you’ve done the last four years. I will miss you all so much.
Nishwant Swami, SM ’17, French Horn From watching Mr. Duffy conduct Corpus Callosum to performing in Yamoransa, Ghana, you can never be bored with the Yale Concert Band! YCB has been an amazing and eclectic experience, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the important part it has played in my life over the last four years. Musically speaking, YCB has been one of the most diverse experiences I’ve ever had. Our song selections are always unique, with the perfect blend between the classics of the band repertoire and the experimental. In exploring both facets of band literature, I’ve been challenged to rethink my own experiences and assumptions about music. But even more than just the music, YCB has introduced me to some of my closest friends. Whether we were rehearsing, exploring a different country, or even competing against each other in late night Mario Kart battles during Dead Week, we’ve bonded over our love for music and the amazing experiences we’ve shared. Thank you Mr. Duffy, Stephanie, and my entire YCB family for truly transforming my time at Yale. Anson Wang, DC ’17, Clarinet Music has always been a reliable hobby and presence in my life, and as I near the end of Yale I still think this statement holds true. As the people, environments, and times around me have changed, music has been a generous source of constancy. Since I first picked up the clarinet in the 4th grade, music has given me a platform to explore my creativity as well as the valuable lessons of practice and patience, not to mention a fulfilling way to distract myself from homework. Music has taken me to different cultures and continents, both metaphorically through its melodies and literally by plane. And finally, music has given me some of my most cherished memories and some of the closest friendships I will hold for a lifetime. Being a member of the Yale Concert Band has been one of the most memorable experiences of my time at Yale. Since freshman year, I have always looked forward to seeing my friends at rehearsal twice a week and then catching up at dinner right afterwards. I will never forget marching during Peter Salovey’s Inauguration, playing alongside Angelique Kidjo, and traveling across the world to Ghana one summer, and then to Italy and Greece two summers later. It has been an incredible experience making music, both strange and beautiful, with such an extraordinary group of musicians. President Salovey described Yale as “at once a tradition, a company of scholars, a society of friends,” and I can think of no better example than the Yale Concert Band. Thank you Mr. Duffy, Stephanie, and all the members of YCB for making this such an unforgettable experience!
YALE CONCERT BAND Brandon Wanke, MC ’17, French Horn Music, and specifically Concert Band, has always been a great break from STEM and being a premed. I come to rehearsal knowing that it will be a time for me to unwind and play new and interesting pieces. We’ve been able to play some amazing songs, like my favorite piece, Angels in the Architecture. The people I’ve met in the group have been some of my closest friends at Yale, and I am so grateful to YCB for bringing us all together. Band tours have been some more of the memorable experiences during my time at Yale. While extremely different, both the Ghanaian tour and our adventures in Italy and Greece were extremely rewarding. Going to Ghana the summer after my freshman year was the first time I left the country, and it was incredible to experience the different culture while also sharing our music. Witnessing the ancient worlds of Italy and Greece was also amazing, and I couldn’t have imagined getting to experience the world in this way.
JOHN WINTHROP MIDDLE SCHOOL 8TH GRADE BAND LAURA TRAVER, Director Flute Ava Boyles Reagan Brenneman Lauren Matarazzo Celia Robbins Lauren Sacrey
Tenor Saxophone Hannah Jenkins Olivia Porcaro Baritone Saxophone Elizabeth Cap
Clarinet Alissa Boyle Arianna Gallo
Trumpet Christian Clarkin Jason Senn
Alto Saxophone Alena Crosby Zack Figuenick Cormac Kline Michael Roise
French Horn Leah Bargnesi Percussion (Snare) Kukas Kauffman
About Tonight’s Guest Artist Praised by the Boston Globe for “a rich, viola-like tone and a rapturous, luminous lyricism,” mezzo-soprano Janna Baty enjoys an exceptionally versatile career. She has sung with Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Daejeon Philharmonic, Hamburgische Staatsoper, L’Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Tallahassee Symphony, Tuscaloosa Symphony, Longwood Symphony, Hartford Symphony, the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Eugene Opera, Opera North, and Boston Lyric Opera. She has sung under the batons of James Levine, Seiji Ozawa, Michel Plasson, Carl Davis, Robert Spano, Steuart Bedford, Stephen Lord, Stefan Asbury, Gil Rose, David Hoose, and Shinik Hahm, among numerous others. As a soloist, chamber musician, and recitalist, she has performed at festivals worldwide, including the Aldeburgh and Britten Festivals in England, the Varna Festival in Bulgaria, the Semanas Musicales de Frutillar Festival in Chile, and the Tanglewood, Norfolk, Monadnock, and Coastal Carolina festivals in the United States. A noted specialist in contemporary music, Ms. Baty has worked alongside many celebrated composers, including John Harbison, Bernard Rands, Yehudi Wyner, Sydney Hodkinson, Peter Child, Reza Vali, Paul Salerni, and Paul Moravec, on performances of their music. Ms. Baty has enjoyed a long collaboration with Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and with them has recorded the critically lauded Vali: Folk Songs (sung in Persian); Lukas Foss’ opera Griffelkin; the world-premiere recording of Eric Sawyer’s Civil War-era opera Our American Cousin; and John Harbison’s Mirabai Songs. An alumna of Oberlin College and the Yale School of Music, she joined the faculty of the Yale School of Music in 2008.
Upcoming Yale Bands Performances • 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.
YALE CONCERT BAND
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 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
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 Michelle Nguyen MUS 17 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 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
Bassoon Bradford Case SM 20 Principal Lily Sands TD 18 Jorge Nunez MC 20
Euphonium Kevin Truong SM 20 Tuba Josef Lawrence TC 20 Principal Alison Ross CC 20
Soprano Saxophone Antonio Medina SM 19 Alto Saxophone Antonio Medina SM 19 Principal Onyx Brunner MC 20
String Bass Jordan Calixto MUS 17 Piano Julia Weiner BK 19
Tenor Saxophone Daniel Morgan TC 18
Timpani Rebecca Leibowitz TC 18
Baritone Saxophone Sara Harris SY 19
Percussion Melina Delgado TD 19 Nasser Odetallah BR 20 Jonathan Roig ES 18 David Zuckerman DC 20
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 French Horn (rotating) John McNamara CC 17* Principal Derek Boyer BR 18 Allison Hammer DC 20 Michael McNamara TD 20 Nishwant Swami SM 17* Sida Tang SY 19 Brandon Wanke MC 17*
Music Librarian Derek Boyer BR 18
* Seniors
† 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: David Zuckerman, Christopher Zhou Publicity Chair: Beatrice Brown Social Chairs: Melina Delgado, Christian Fernandez