Monday, March 9, 2026  •  7:30 p.m.

Weigel Auditorium | Columbus, OH

Symphonic Band

Scott A. Jones, conductor
Brooke Woods (DMA), guest conductor
Xiao Liu (DMA), soprano
Steve Danyew, guest composer-in-residence

All program notes written by students of the European Musical Traditions course, led by Prof. Katie Graber. 
 

Welcome

Thank you for joining the musicians of Symphonic Band for this second performance of the spring semester. We celebrate the music of two American composers this evening — Vincent Persichetti and Steve Danyew.

Vincent Persichetti (1915–1987) was an early champion of the wind band, contributing original compositions for concert band at a critical time in the development of the musical medium. His unique compositional voice continues to sound fresh and “new” even to audiences of present day. We delight in sharing an early symphony for concert band by Persichetti, his Symphony No. 6 for Band composed 70 years ago.

Composer Steve Danyew (b. 1983) resides in Rochester, New York where he works as a full-time composer and lecturer at the Eastman School of Music. A present-day champion of compositions for concert band, Steve’s compositions have won awards and received critical acclaim in our country and around the world. Steve and his spouse Ashley were in residence at Ohio State February 18–20, 2026, and we delight that Steve has returned for this evening’s program.

We extend special gratitude to the students currently enrolled in the “European Musical Traditions” course (Dr. Katie Graber, professor) for preparing the program notes for this concert.

Enjoy the performance and we look forward to visiting with you afterwards!

Scott A. Jones
Conductor

PROGRAM

Six Little Songs

Steve Danyew (b. 1983)

This performance of Six Little Songs is a consortium premiere.

Xiao Liu, soprano soloist, DMA graduate student

Steve Danyew is an American composer based in Rochester, New York. He is widely recognized and celebrated for the creativity and thoughtful craftsmanship of his works. He received a bachelor of music in composition from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami (FL), and went on to receive a master’s degree in music composition from the Eastman School of Music. Danyew’s accolades have secured striking performances of his works in a variety of notable locations, such as Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House, the Kennedy Center, and even the steps of the US Capitol. Currently, Danyew and his wife, Ashley, run a company called Musician and Company. Together, they help provide musicians with the resources and tools they need to succeed in their career as a musician.

Composed for chamber wind ensemble and solo voice, Steve Danyew’s Six Little Songs is a song cycle based on poems by his wife, Ashley. Each of the six songs illuminates a different poem written by Ashley, with reminiscent moods that depict memories of family and love. The songs are short, with the instrumental accompaniments creating a sense of reflection and nostalgia. Ranging from love letters written between long distance romantics to contemplations on the passage of time, Ashley Danyew’s poems draw from experiences shared by her and her family throughout their lives.

I. The Letters

The letters I keep folded
In white envelopes.
Small pieces of time
Captured on handwritten sheets.

Parts of you I keep close
To find small glimpses
Of life now distant
Before you were here with me.

II. Orchard

Sunday afternoon, 
grey skies, 
green grass.
Orchard trees, 
boughs bowed
apples ripe and red.
Slow steps, soft glances.
This is timelessness.

III. The Chase

He chases the sun
By night and by day.
And though yet to catch her,
Resists all dismay.

She chases the moon
By day and by night.
And so they continue –
Perpetual delight.

IV. The Man in the Moon

He comes at night
With faded clouds
With silver stars
Gleaming and proud.

He takes his seat
Above this view
The world asleep
Light shining through.

Do you see him –
The man in the moon?
He comes at night
He’ll be here soon.

V. Thanksgiving

Grey November.
Traveling across simple landscapes.
Evergreens.

Gathered together.
Singing around the piano.
Grateful.

Giving thanks.
Children sharing paper hearts.
Love is enough.

VI. Academy Hill

Quiet footsteps
Softened light
Sharing silence
In the nearing night.

Grassy hilltop
Trees parting ways
Stately mountain
In full winter display.

Branches bare
Sky, a cool grey
Lake still glowing
With the end of day.

Magnolia Star

Steve Danyew

Steve Danyew drew from his early-age background in jazz and improvisation to inspire his piece Magnolia Star. Published in 2012, this work uses a blues scale in an unconventional manner, paying homage to the musical device while maintaining the composer’s own creative voice. The piece contains driving rhythms and train-like timbres which reflect Danyew’s other inspiration: trains and the American railroad. The title of the composition, Magnolia Star, is also the name of a train that ran from New Orleans to Chicago in the mid-20th century. Danyew attributes this seemingly unusual combination, blues and trains, to the historical legacy that railroad transportation enabled in spreading the jazz and blues traditions across America.

Lauda

Steve Danyew

I.  Montis Dei (“God’s mountains”)
II. Hymnus Anima Mea (“Hymn of my soul”)

Lauda is a wind band piece in two movements composed by Steve Danyew for the Eastman Wind Ensemble under the direction of Mark Scatterday in 2009. The work is structured loosely as a prelude and fugue, informed by contrapuntal devices used by Baroque composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach. Lauda is a Latin word for “praise,” and a fitting title for a work based on various religious hymns.

The first movement, Montis Dei  (in Latin, meaning “God's mountains"), features a series of increasingly complex harmonies throughout the piece that function as a passacaglia, or ground bass. The second movement, Hymnus Anima Mea (in Latin, meaning “Hymn of my soul”) employs a fugue-like structure while progressing over a pedal point with growing harmonies and dynamics leading to a powerful climax that carries the piece to its finale. Danyew draws from the Christian hymn “Praise My Soul, the King of Heaven” to craft the motives and fugal subject before quoting the hymn tune “Lauda Anima” to bring the movement to a close.

Symphony No. 6, Op. 69 

Symphony for Band

Vincent Persichetti (1915–1987)

I.   Adagio — Allegro
II.  Adagio sostenuto
III. Allegretto
IV. Vivace

American composer, music educator, and performer Vincent Persichetti began his music studies at a young age. Born in 1915 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Persichetti quickly built a career in music. By age 20, he had accumulated roles as choir director, accompanist, radio staff pianist, and head of the Combs College of Music theory and composition departments where he had just received his first degree in music. He later went on to teach at the Juilliard School of Music, eventually becoming the chairman of the composition department.

Persichetti’s impressive resume is complemented by an equally astounding list of works, including pieces written in almost every musical medium. His music for wind ensembles is especially noteworthy, as his pieces are seen as some of the most foundational and well-crafted compositions of modern wind band repertoire.

Symphony No. 6, Symphony for Band, was composed by Persichetti in 1956. Persichetti’s use of “band” in the title, as opposed to “winds,” was a deliberate effort to redefine assumptions of band music’s limitations and potentials. He uses both traditional and uncommon musical forms throughout this four-movement work.

The first movement, Adagio — Allegro, offers a mysterious and menacing introduction, with a strong and powerful brass section that contrasts with a rhythmic and exciting second half filled with percussion and woodwinds. The movement ends with a strong and lush combination of woodwind and brass that devolves into a return of the menacing mood from the opening.

In the second movement, Adagio sostenuto, Persichetti uses his hymn “Round Me Falls the Night” as an opening chorale. The movement features many soloists that build upon each other, culminating in a beautiful build and release before a solemn close.

The third movement, Allegretto, opens with woodwinds playing in a scherzo style to create the image of a folk dance. Muted brass instruments provide a colorful contrast in the middle section of the movement before return of the opening material.

The fourth and final movement, Vivace, uses a free-form rondo to create a new theme while recalling several motivic ideas that occurred in earlier movements. In an interesting twist, Perschetti ends the movement and the symphony on a 12-note cluster-chord, using all notes of a western, equal temperament scale.