Friday, Feb. 2, 2024 • 5 p.m.
Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA)
Professional Development Conference
Greater Columbus Convention Center
Union Station Ballroom
Russel C. Mikkelson, conductor
Christopher D. Hoch, guest conductor
Elisabeth Shafer, trombone
PROGRAM
Bright Shadow Fanfare
Nicole Piunno (b. 1985)
Christopher D. Hoch, conductor
The intense contrast in Bright Shadow Fanfare refers to two possible meanings. It could mean bringing our darkness into the light in order to integrate it with our true self. It could also mean revealing our positive traits and gifts that we may not allow ourselves to show or give to others.
— Note by the composer
Colonial Song
Percy Grainger (1882–1961)
ed. Mark Rogers
Grainger wrote (in his customary strapping, blue-eyed English rhetoric) of Colonial Song:
“...I have wished to express feelings aroused by my thoughts of the scenery and people of my native land (Australia), and also to voice a certain kind of emotion that seems to me not untypical of native-born Colonials in general. Perhaps it is not unnatural that people living more or less lonelily in vast virgin countries and struggling against natural and climatic hardships (rather than against the more actively and dramatically exciting counter wills of the fellow men, as in more thickly populated lands) should run largely to that patiently yearning, inactive sentimental wistfulness that we find so touchingly expressed in much American art; for instance in Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, and in Stephen C. Foster’s adorable songs 'My Old Kentucky Home,' 'Old Folks at Home,' etc.”
Colonial Song was intended by the composer to be the first composition in a series of works labeled “Sentimentals.” Ultimately, Grainger abandoned the idea of such a series, but clearly Colonial Song remained intimately dear; the dedication inscribed on the score in the composer’s hand reads, “This military band dish-up as Loving Yule-Gift to Mumsie, Yule, 1918.”
Traveler
David Maslanka (1943–2017)
Traveler was commissioned in 2003 by the University of Texas at Arlington Band Alumni Association, the Delta Sigma Chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi and the Gamma Nu Chapter of Tau Beta Sigma, in honor of the career contributions of Ray C. Lichtenwalter, retiring Director of Bands at UT Arlington. Ray has been a close friend and champion of my music for many years, and it was a great pleasure for me to write this piece for his final concert.
The idea for Traveler came from the feeling of a big life movement as I contemplated my friend’s retirement. Traveler begins with an assertive statement of the chorale melody “Nicht so traurig, nicht so sehr” (“Not so sad, not so much”). The chorale was not chosen for its title, although in retrospect it seems quite appropriate. The last part of life need not be sad. It is an accumulation of all that has gone before, and a powerful projection into the future — the potential for a tremendous gift of life and joy. And so the music begins with energy and movement, depicting an engaged life in full stride. At the halfway point, a meditative quiet settles in. Life’s battles are largely done; the soul is preparing for its next big step.
In our hearts, our minds, our souls
We travel from life to life to life
In time and eternity.
— Note by the composer
Colors
Bert Appermont (b. 1973)
- Yellow
- Red
- Blue
- Green
Elisabeth Shafer, trombone
This work was written especially for the Belgian trombonist Ben Haemhouts, and was created on Dec. 29, 1998 in Ravels. The starting point of Colors is bipartite. On the one hand I wanted to create a solo piece based upon the colors yellow, blue, red and green. I wanted to express the characteristics, associations and emotions related to these colors in a subtle manner. This way, every movement was named after a color:
1) Yellow: inspiring and stimulating (also: wisdom and light); 2) Red: dynamic, passionate developing into dramatic, furious and fighting (also: courage and will-power); 3) Blue: melancholic, dreamy and introvert (also: truth and peace); 4) Green: hopeful and full of expectation (also: balanced power and harmony).
A second important source of inspiration was the death of an uncle who was a trombone player in his free time. The heavy struggle that this man went through at the end of his life might be symbolized in the second movement of the concerto, which sounds like a battle at the end of this movement. The unity in the piece is reached by the use of a three-tone motif (c–d–g) which constantly returns in various ways throughout the composition and which is the basis of every important theme. Finally, I tried to use the coloristic pallet of the trombone in the best possible way, making use of the complete range of the instrument and the different timbres of the instrument.
— Note by the composer
Dionysiaques, Op. 62
Florent Schmitt (1870–1958)
ed. Felix Hauswirth
Dionysiaques was composed for the 100-member Garde Républicaine Band in Paris in 1913, mere months after Schmitt attended the premiere performance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Its own premiere had to wait until 1925 because of World War I, but it has been performed frequently since the mid-20th century and it now stands as one of the cornerstone pieces of the early wind band repertoire.
The title comes from the “Dyonisia” — ancient Greek celebrations honoring Dionysus, the god of wine. He was thought to have provided man with the vineyard, and subsequently the harvest, winemaking, drunkenness and the means for mystical trances.
The piece itself begins ominously as the low brass and woodwinds set the stage for an exotic and almost hypnotic journey. Schmitt’s impressionistic tendencies are immediately evident: wandering melodies emerge in the woodwinds and gradually gain momentum. Their fluidity is slowly abandoned in favor of festivity, perhaps encouraged by the ‘fluid’ of Dionysus, be it red or white. The bacchanal eventually bursts forth, brimming with rhythmic vitality and a relentless insistence on partying all the way to the verge of control, and perhaps a bit beyond.
— Note by Cynthia Johnston Turner
Wind Symphony
Russel C. Mikkelson, conductor
Piccolo
Katie Sharp
Braden Stewart
Sofia Geelhood
Flute
Katie Sharp *
Jonathan Mitchell
Sofia Geelhood
Braden Stewart
Allie Gerckens
Shreeya Yampati
Kristin Thompson
Oboe
Briele Vollmuth *
Laura Pitner
Lauren Kowal
English Horn
Lauren Kowal
Bassoon
Brandon Golpe *
Isaiah Heyman
Bobby Schwartz
Contrabassoon
Bobby Schwartz
E-flat Clarinet
Kaleigh McGee
Destiny Malave
Clarinet
Kaleigh McGee *
Louis Maligaya
Destiny Malave
Eli Johnson
Lily Tropple
Rohit Kolluri
Samuel Langer
Joseph Zishka
Joseph DeCillis
Bass Clarinet
Mason Williams
Leah Henning
Contrabass Clarinet
Lily Tropple
Alto Saxophone
Frankie Wantuch *
Lucinda Dunne
Tenor Saxophone
Cooper Greenlees
Baritone Saxophone
Austin Spillman
Horn
Annie Moon *
William Holderby
Cheng Peng
Theresa Deevers
Olivia Boden
Trumpet
Luke Bingham *
Matt Pileski
Nick Schnitzspahn
Ben Guegold
Connor McMullen
Zach Heffner
Bobby Petty
Trombone
Tristan Miller *
Charlotte Stefani
Alex Myers
Owen Kovach
Bass Trombone
Zach Irwin
Euphonium
Sean O’Brien *
Davis Aho
Andrew Eynon
Tuba
Patrick Woo *
Zane Tekaucic
Percussion
Sam Sherer *
Ben Kerger
Kalie Dawson
Kye Pyeatt
Tres Perkins
Haydn Veith
Erin Rybinski
Piano
Kaiwei Guo
Double Bass
Drew Postel (assisting)
Harp
Nathan Hay (assisting)
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