Illinois State University College of Fine Arts School of Music ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Symphonic Winds Martin H. Seggelke, Conductor Joseph Manfredo, Conductor Amy Mikalauskas, Graduate Conductor Bill Heinze, Student Composer Alex Pantazi, Saxophone, Band Concerto Competition Winner __________________________________________________________________________________________ Center for the Performing Arts Monday Evening March 23, 2015 8:00 p.m. This is the one hundred and fortieth program of the 2014-2015 season. Program Please silence all electronic devices for the duration of the concert. Thank you. Variants on a Medieval Tune (1963) Norman Dello Joio (1913-2008) 12:00 Joseph Manfredo, Conductor On Winged Flight (1989) I. Prelude II. Pastorale III. Nocturne IV. Scherzo V. Parody Amy Mikalauskas, Graduate Conductor 7:30 AM Ruins Everything (2014) Gunther Schuller (born 1925) 13:00 Bill Heinze (born 1991) 5:00 World Premiere ~Brief Intermission~ Diversion (1943) Bernhard Heiden (1910-2000) 8:00 Alex Pantazi, saxophone - Band Concerto Competition Winner Al Fresco (1974) Karel Husa (born 1921) 12:00 Program Notes Norman Dello Joio (1913-2008) began his distinguished musical career at age fourteen when he became a church organist and choir director of the Star of the Sea Church on City Island, New York. His father was an organist, pianist, singer, and vocal coach. Dello Joio recalled his father working with singers from the Metropolitan Opera, and that his childhood was filled with musicians and music in the home. Dello Joio’s father taught him the piano at age four, and in his teens, he began studying organ with his godfather, Pietro Yon, organist at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. In 1939, Dello Joio was accepted as a scholarship student at the Juilliard School and studied composition with Bernard Wagenaar. In 1941, he began studies with Paul Hindemith, the man who profoundly influenced his compositional style, at the Tanglewood Music Center and Yale University. In the latter part of the 1940s, Dello Joio was considered one of America’s leading composers, and by the fifties, had gained international recognition. He received numerous awards and grants, including the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Award, the Town Hall Composition Award, two Guggenheim Fellowships, and a grant from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He won the New York Music Critics’ Circle Award in 1948, and 1962. In 1957, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his piece, Meditations on Ecclesiastes, for string orchestra, and an Emmy Award for his music in the television special, Scenes from the Louvre. CBS also featured him in a one-hour television special, "Profile of a Composer,” in 1958. Dello Joio taught at Sarah Lawrence College, the Mannes College of Music, and was Professor of Music and Dean of the Fine and Applied Arts School of Boston University. From 1959 until 1973, he directed the Ford Foundation’s Contemporary Music Project. Dello Joio remained active as a composer until his death in 2008 at the age of ninety-five. A prolific composer, the partial list of Dello Joio’s compositions include over forty-five choral works, close to thirty works for orchestra and ten for band, approximately twenty-five pieces for solo voice, twenty chamber works, concertos and solo works for piano, flute, harp, a concertante for clarinet, and a concertino for harmonica. His stage works include three operas and eight ballets. Additionally, he has written nine television scores and three compositions for organ. –Biography courtesy of DelloJoio.com Variants on a Medieval Tune (1963) is a piece for wind band based on the melody, In dulci jubilo. This melody is often associated with the Christmas carol “Good Christian Men, Rejoice,” but it has been dated back to the early 16th century and Martin Luther, who more than likely borrowed it from older, non-liturgical music. In dulci jubilo has been used by many composers, among them J. S. Bach, as the subject for a variety of musical works. Dello Joio was inspired to compose a set of variations on this melody. The variations consist of a bold introduction, led by a cornet fanfare. The theme is then introduced, which is the basis for the five variants that send the medieval melody through metamorphoses, strongly contrasting in tempo and character, and utilizing the possibilities of the band to the highest degree. The first variation (Allegro deciso) rushes by with such speed that it is hard to recognize that it is based on notes two through five of the melody. The trumpets announce the peasant style of the next variation (Lento, pesante), with the theme in the woodwinds and low brass. The rapidly articulated notes of the clarinets hide the theme in the third variation (Allegro spumante). This contrasts with the rich, dark quality of the bassoons and bass clarinets in the next variation (Andante). An increase in dynamic level gives the brass a turn with the theme until it slowly fades away. The final variation (Allegro glorioso) is a spirited proclamation of the theme and conclusion of the work. Variants on a Medieval Tune was commissioned by the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation for the Duke University Band and Paul Bryan, conductor. The piece was first performed on April 10, 1963. –Program notes courtesy of composer and WindBand.org Gunther Schuller (b. 1925) is an American composer, conductor, and performer. He began his professional life as a horn player in both the jazz and classical worlds, working as readily with Miles Davis and Gil Evans as with Toscanini; he was principal horn of the Cincinnati Symphony from age sixteen and later of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra until 1959. In the 1950s, he began a conducting career focusing largely on contemporary music, and thereafter conducted most of the major orchestras of the world in a wide range of works, including his own. He was central in precipitating a new, stylistic marriage between progressive factions of jazz and classical, coining the term "Third Stream," and collaborating in the development of the style with John Lewis, the Modern Jazz Quartet, and others. An educator of extraordinary influence, he has been on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music and Yale University; for many years, he was head of contemporary music activities, as well as a director at the Tanglewood Music Center. He also served as President of the New England Conservatory. He has published several books and recently embarked on the writing of his memoirs. Composition has had a continual, central presence in Schuller's musical life: he has written more than one hundred eighty works dating back to the beginning of his career when, at age nineteen, he was the soloist in his Horn Concerto with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under Eugene Goosens. His works range from solo works to concertos, symphonies, an opera, and many fall outside of any genre. One of his first works performed by a major orchestra was his Symphony for Brass and Percussion, played in 1949 by Mitropoulos and the New York Philharmonic. Schuller's advocacy of other composers through performance, publishing, recording, teaching and administration has been as unflagging in its energy and scope as his pursuit of his own musical expression as performer, conductor, and composer. -Biography courtesy of Wind Repertory Project On Winged Flight (1989), a divertimento for band, was composed on a commission from the United States Air Force Band and dedicated to their conductor, Lt. Col. James Michael Bankhead. The premiere took place on April 3, 1989 at the Annual American Bandmasters Association Conference at Florida State University in Tallahassee. The following are the composer’s own program notes: In contrast to some of my other band or wind ensemble works, my Divertimento is - as the name implies - a more light-hearted work, although, just as in Mozart's Divertimenti, it has its "serious" moments, even "serious" movements. The five-movement composition begins with a sprightly Vivace introductory movement, entitled "Prelude", setting the overall lively tone of the work with its cascading woodwind figures, brassy syncopations, and unexpected contrasts. The second movement, "Pastorale," sets a solo alto saxophone in reiterative lyric phrases against a delicate pointillistic web-like woodwind, muted brass, and light percussion background. Jackson Pollack's pointillistic "drip method,” setting off foreground objects against multi-colored fragmented backgrounds, comes to mind as an analogy of the visual arts. The mood becomes more serious in the third movement, "Nocturne," a somber rather dark-colored piece, featuring instruments such as bass and contrabass clarinets, contrabassoon, and low brass. Here, too, I was able to use the three cellos that are an unusual feature of the Air Force Band's instrumentation. The fourth movement, "Scherzo," exploits the virtuosic capacities of the wind ensemble, additionally bringing in the colors of the piano and harp. There is a lively rhythmic and harmonic interplay between the different choirs of the ensemble. The scherzo’s light, agitated, mercurial discourse ends quite abruptly in a quiet sustained chord. The last movement, "Parody," carries the following legend: "with a respectful bow to Messrs. Charles Ives, James Reese Europe, and Henry Fillmore." "Parody" is a wild mélange of these early band manifestations including many of their most endearing clichés treated in an Ivesian "take-off" fashion, thereby bringing the whole work to an engaging, dazzling conventional "fun" climax. –Program notes courtesy of composer and Wind Repertory Project Bill Heinze (b. 1991) is a Chicago-based composer born in West Chicago, Illinois in 1991. He completed his undergraduate degree in 2013 at Ripon College in Ripon, Wisconsin, where he studied with Sarah Kraaz and Kyle Szabo. His compositions span many genres from chamber to symphonic. He is currently working on his Master of Music at Illinois State University where he studies with Martha Horst and Roy Magnuson. His works have been performed throughout the Midwest. Bill lives and works in Normal, Illinois. -Biography courtesy of the composer 7:30 AM Ruins Everything (2014) The following are program notes from the composer: 7:30 AM Ruins Everything is a piece that explores my relationship with my alarm clock. It always disturbs my sleep. As an avid sleeper, I frequently dream. These dreams, though usually mundane, offer me a glimpse of insight into my work, relationships, and life. However, they often end abruptly every morning once my alarm clock goes off. The piece captures the frustration of missing out on some of our best ideas, but also reflect on the possibility of remembering these false memories, in the hopes that we may one day recreate them. "Morning comes whether you set the alarm or not." -Ursula K. Le Guin Bernhard Heiden (1910-2000), a prominent composer throughout the twentieth century, was born in Frankfurt, Germany on August 24, 1910. His mother, an active amateur violinist and pianist, contributed significantly to his early musical experiences. She rehearsed regularly in their home with a string quartet that included Paul Hindemith's brother, Rudolph, and often played from opera scores at the piano. Heiden's formal musical training began at age five with the Dalcroze method, which included ear training, dictation, and rhythmic exercises. He began piano lessons soon afterward and was composing short piano pieces by age six. At age fifteen, Heiden began studying theory and harmony with Bernhard Sekles, who had been a teacher of Paul Hindemith and was director of the Hoch's Conservatory, an important music school in Frankfurt. Heiden furthered his musical studies at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin from 1929 to 1933, majoring in conducting after one year as a clarinet major. His primary teachers were Paul Hindemith (composition), Julius Priiwer (conducting), Max Trapp (piano), and George Szell and Alexander von Zemlinsky (score reading). Upon leaving the Hochschule in 1933, Heiden gained a position in the Jewish Kulturbund-Orchester playing clarinet, led by Joseph Rosenstock. In 1934, this group premiered Heiden’s Prelude for Orchestra. As life in Germany was becoming increasingly uncomfortable for Jews, Heiden immigrated to the United States in 1935, settling in Detroit. When he was in Detroit, from 1935 to 1943, Heiden was active as a composer, arranger, conductor, teacher, and performer on piano, harpsichord and organ. He taught at the Art Center Music School and was an active participant in the Detroit Music Guild, ultimately becoming its president. His most successful venture came in 1942 and 1943 when he organized and conducted a series of concerts with the Detroit Chamber Orchestra, a group of musicians from the recently disbanded Detroit Symphony Orchestra. In the spring of 1943, Heiden was drafted by the United States Army and was stationed at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, where he served as assistant band director with the 445th Army. In 1945, Heiden enrolled at Cornell University to pursue a Master's degree in musicology, with Donald J. Grout as his major professor. Heiden completed his degree in 1946 and was immediately appointed to the faculty of the Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana. At Indiana University, Heiden taught composition, counterpoint, score- reading, and twentieth-century analytical techniques, serving as chairman of the composition department for several years. He remained at Indiana University until his retirement in 1981. In addition to the Mendelssohn Prize of 1933, Heiden received a number of other awards, including the 1951 Fine Arts Quartet Composition Award for his String Quartet No. 2, a 1955 commission from the Fromrn Musical Foundation for an orchestral piece, two commissions from the National Association of Wind and Percussion Instructors, and a 1976 National Endowment for the Arts grant for a tuba concerto written for Harvey Phillips. Heiden was also awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1966, which allowed him to spend a year composing and living in Greece. -Biography courtesy of Thomas Walsh, author of A Performer’s Guide to the Saxophone Music of Bernhard Heiden Diversion (1943) While in the United States Army at Camp McCoy in Wisconsin from 1943 to 1945, Heiden composed a piece for alto saxophone and band called Solo for Alto Saxophone and Band, which the Army band performed with Heiden conducting on several concerts between 1943 and 1945. This piece was written to feature Martin Rifkin, an alto saxophonist in the band at Camp McCoy. Heiden sent Solo for Alto Saxophone and Band to Associated Music Publishers, who agreed to publish it. After five years, however, Associated had not published his piece. Heiden asked them that it be returned to him; however, Associated claimed to have already returned it. He concluded that the piece was lost, with the exception of the pencil score that Heiden kept. Oddly, Heiden later learned of performances of Solo for Alto Saxophone and Band by the University of Michigan band. Heiden speculated that William Revelli, director of the University of Michigan band, might have taken the score and parts for Solo for Alto Saxophone and Band when he stopped editing for Associated. In 1984, the piece was finally published. Since Heiden had written another piece entitled Solo for Alto Saxophone and Piano in 1969, his Solo for Alto Saxophone and Band was renamed Diversion. Diversion, like several other pieces by Heiden, is a staple in the saxophone repertoire. The piece goes through many different style changes and is technically challenging for the performer. Eugene Rousseau, one of the giants in saxophone performance and pedagogy, worked with Heiden to create an alternate cadenza that is more technically challenging, as it moves much more into the altissimo register. Although the piece was lost for many years, Heiden’s Diversion is a standard piece within the saxophone repertoire. -Program notes courtesy of Thomas Walsh and Amy Mikalauskas Karel Husa (b. 1921) Perhaps no other composer has had such an impact on the development of the contemporary wind band than has Karel Husa. It is clear that Husa’s music has profoundly influenced composers, conductors, performers and audiences. Born in Prague on August 7, 1921, Husa was headed for a career in engineering. The Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, however, forced him into seeking a position in the Prague Conservatory of Music in 1941, where he studied composition with Jaroslav Ridky. In 1946, he traveled to Paris under a fellowship by the French Government where he studied composition with Arthur Honegger, Nadia Boulanger, and Darius Milhaud, as well as conducting with Andre Cluytens. He joined the music faculty at Cornell University in 1954, where he taught composition and theory and conducted the university orchestra. In 1959, Husa became an American citizen. His association with Ithaca College began in 1967, where he was a lecturer in composition until his retirement in 1986. He retired from Cornell in 1992 after thirty-eight years of distinguished teaching, which included his being named a Kappa Alpha professor. Among numerous honors, Husa has received a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation; awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, UNESCO, and the National Endowment for the Arts; Koussevitzky Foundation commissions; the Czech Academy for the Arts and Sciences Prize; the Czech Medal of Merit, First Class, from President Vaclav Havel; and the Lili Boulanger award. Recordings of his music have been issued on CBS Masterworks, Vox, Everest, Louisville, CRI, Orion, Grenadilla, and Phoenix Records, among others. Husa's String Quartet No. 3 received the 1969 Pulitzer Prize, and his Cello Concerto the 1993 Grawemeyer Award. Music for Prague 1968, with more than seven thousand performances worldwide, has become part of the modern repertory. Among other works, Husa has composed The Trojan Women, a ballet commissioned by the Louisville Ballet and Orchestra; Recollections for Wind Quintet and Piano, commissioned to celebrate the 200th anniversary of friendly relations between the United States and Holland and premiered in October 1982 at the Library of Congress in Washington DC; and Concerto for Wind Ensemble, performed in December 1982 and recipient of the first Sudler prize in 1983. Karel Husa has conducted many major orchestras including those in Paris, London, Prague, Zurich, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, Boston, and Washington. Among numerous recordings including his own works, he made the first European disc of Bartók's Miraculous Mandarin with the Centi Soli Orchestra in Paris. Every year, Husa visited university campuses to guest-conduct and lecture on his music. He has conducted in all 50 American states. -Biography courtesy of the Music Sales Classical Al Fresco (1974) When Ithaca College decided to begin a commissioning series of original band compositions, they turned to their own faculty member, Karel Husa, to write the first work. The Walter Beeler Memorial Commission Series, as it was to be called, was designed to create works of a serious nature in honor of the man who came to symbolize bands at Ithaca College for more than forty years. The work received its first performance at the MENC Convention in Philadelphia on April 19, 1975, by the Ithaca College Concert Band with the composer as guest conductor. Husa was approached with this commission only one year prior to the concert, which left him very little time to compose an original work of quality. Because of the time constraints of the commission, Al Fresco is a revision of Husa’s earlier composition Fresques for Orchestra, Op. 7, which he wrote in 1947. The composer has supplied the following notes: “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.” Husa intended this composition to be performed by “young, high school musicians”, but like Schoenberg before him, the work has not found a regular place within its intended repertoire level. The technical demands of the piece are challenging for performers of all levels. - Program notes courtesy of Ithaca College Wind Ensemble Alex Pantazi, a native of Park Ridge, Illinois, is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Saxophone Performance and Music Education at Illinois State University. As a saxophonist, Alex has performed in masterclasses led by Dr. Otis Murphy, Dr. Drew Whiting, and the Iridium Quartet. Currently Alex performs with ISU’s premiere ensembles, including the Wind Symphony and the Sonder Saxophone Quartet. Through his dedicated performance with his high school band, Alex received many awards, including the Music Department Award and the John Philip Sousa Award. Alex’s primary saxophone teachers include Paul Nolen and Aaron McEvers. As a future music educator, Alex has become a leader in the Illinois State University School of Music. He is the president of the National Band Association Student Chapter, a visual-team leader of the Big Red Marching Machine, and a member of National Association for Music Education. Symphonic Winds Personnel Martin H. Seggelke, conductor Joseph Manfredo, conductor Amy Mikalauskas, graduate conductor Flute Heather Elfline Kalie Grable* Jennifer Jones Cassie Metz* Carly Piland Trumpet Alyson Bauman Shauna Bracken Tristan Burgmann* Katie Harris Casey Laughlin Oboe/English Horn Linnea Couture* Samantha Dosek Bridget Gondek Trombone Michael Genson Chris Gumban Jonathan Sabin* Danny Tedeschi Clarinet Alex Armellino* Lisa Frustaci Meredith Galloway Chris Odom Tim Recio Elizabeth Rennwanz Nicha Sukkittiyanon Bass Clarinets Beth Hildenbrand Andy Lucas Bassoon Courtney Baltzer Katelyn Fix* Bill Heinze Saxophone Mike Basile* Devin Cano Riley Carter* Christine Ewald Samantha Kubil Adam Unnerstall Euphonium Derek Carter* Andrew McGowan Sara Sneyd Tuba Alex Finley* Mitchell Jones String Bass Laura Bass* Patrick Casner Percussion Lauren Bobarsky Matt James* Katie Klipstein Rei Shorten Katie Tollakson Hillary Ulman Piano Amanda Lewis* Horn Maddy Bolz Conner Bowman Justin Johnson Meagan Vasel Emily Wolski* Acknowledging the important contributions of all ensemble members, this list is in alphabetical order. *Denotes Section Leader THANK YOU Illinois State University College of Fine Arts James Major, Dean John Walker, Executive Associate Dean Sherri Zeck,Associate Dean Pete Guither, Assistant Dean Laurie Merriman, Assistant Dean Janet Tulley, Assistant Dean Illinois State University School of Music A. Oforiwaa Aduonum, ethnomusicology Allison Alcorn, music history Debra Austin, voice Mark Babbitt, trombone Daniel Belongia, associate director of bands Glenn Block, orchestra & conducting Connie Bryant, bands administrative clerk Karyl K. Carlson, director of choral activities Renee Chernick, piano David Collier, percussion & associate director Andrea Crimmins, music therapy Peggy Dehaven, office support specialist Judith Dicker, oboe Michael Dicker, bassoon Geoffrey Duce, pano Tom Faux, ethnomusicology Angelo Favis, graduate coordinator & guitar Sarah Gentry, violin Amy Gilreath, trumpet David Gresham, clarinet Mark Grizzard, men’s glee club Christine Hansen, academic advisor Kevin Hart, jazz studies & theory Martha Horst, theory & composition Mona Hubbard, office manager Joshua Keeling, theory & composition John Michael Koch, vocal arts coordinator Shela Bondurant Koehler, music education William Koehler, string bass & music education Adriana La Rosa Ransom, cello Marie Labonville, musicology Katherine J. Lewis, viola Roy D. Magnuson, theory Joseph Manfredo, music education Leslie A. Manfredo, choir, music education Tom Marko, director of jazz studies Rose Marshack, music business & arts technology Joe Matson, musicology & music history Kimberly McCord, music education Carren Moham, voice Carlyn Morenus, piano Joe Neisler, horn Paul Nolen, saxophone Maureen Parker, administrative clerk Stephen B. Parsons, director Frank R. Payton, Jr., music education Kim Risinger, flute Cindy Ropp, music therapy Andy Rummel, euphonium & tuba Tim Schachtschneider, facilities manager Carl Schimmel, composition Daniel Peter Schuetz, voice Martin H. Seggelke, director of bands Matthew Smith, arts technology David Snyder, music education Ben Stiers, percussion & assistant director of bands Tuyen Tonnu, piano & accompanying Rick Valentin, arts technology Justin Vickers, voice & musicology Michelle Vought, voice Sharon Walsh, advisor Band Graduate Teaching Assistants Aaron Gradberg, Josh Hernday, Beth Hildenbrand, Amy Mikalauskas, Nelson Ruiz, Shannon Shaffer Upcoming Illinois State University Large Instrumental Ensemble Performances Details and links to tickets at www.bands.ilstu.edu April 6, 2015 8:00pm-CPA Wind Symphony Concert April 8, 2015 8:00pm-Kemp Recital Hall Jazz Combos Concert April 15, 2015 8:00pm-CPA Wind Symphony Concert April 16, 2015 8:00pm-CPA Jazz Ensembles I & II Concert April 17-18, 2015 All day-CPA State of Illinois Invitational Junior High Concert Band Festival April 19, 2015 3:00pm-CPA Symphonic Winds Concert April 23, 2015 8:00pm-CPA University Band and Symphonic Band Concert April 24-25, 2015 All day-CPA State of Illinois Invitational High School Concert Band Festival April 26, 2015 5:00pm-CPA Wind Symphony Concert
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