Friday, Nov. 18, 2022
8 p.m.
The Ohio State University School of Music
Weigel Auditorium
SYMPHONIC BAND
Scott A. Jones, conductor
James Akins, guest artist
Sarah Baker, guest conductor
Alex Mondragon, guest conductor
Notes on the program — "Consider This"
Thank you for joining us for this second performance of autumn semester by the musicians of the Ohio State Symphonic Band. During this time of year in which we pause to be grateful for that which we have, we offer a program that provides “food for thought” ...that perhaps becomes “food for action” after the music has faded.
While the program notes below will greater illumine these ideas, for your consideration this evening we offer to you:
- a reflection of the peoples who were here long before the university, inspired by the music OF those peoples.
- folk music of people from unfamiliar and faraway lands, presented in the familiar context of a concert band composition.
- a consideration of the state of our planet...and the ways we are called to better care for it.
- the opportunity to assess your personal "inner landscape" — and the “goodbyes” that need to occur in order to facilitate “hellos.”
- the charming recontextualizing of music from a bygone era.
- and music that inspires a sense of “home” and "place" ...where we find center, comfort and anchor.
Thank you again for supporting the arts at Ohio State and for the gift of your presence this evening. The musicians and I wish you a blessed and restorative Thanksgiving...
— Scott A. Jones, conductor
Native American Flute Solo
James Akins, flute
“The Ohio State University occupies the ancestral and contemporary lands of the Shawnee, Potawatomi, Delaware, Miami, Peoria, Seneca, Wyandotte, Ojibwe and Cherokee peoples. The university resides on land ceded in the 1795 Treaty of Greeneville and the forced removal of tribal nations through the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The musicians of The Ohio State University Symphonic Band honor the resiliency of these tribal nations and recognize the historical contexts that have and continue to affect the Indigenous peoples of this land.”
Armenian Dances (1943/45)
Aram Khachaturian (1903–1978), ed. Satz
I. Allegro Moderato
II. Allegro
Sarah Baker, conductor
Armenian composer and conductor Aram Khachaturian graced the world with his music in the best theaters, stages and concert venues throughout the twentieth century. Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, he attended the Moscow National Conservatory (1929) where he studied composition with Nikolai Mayaskovsky (a former student of Rimsky-Korsakov). Khachaturian’s compositional style included improvisation, imitation, rhythmic and melodic layering, timbral effects widely representing Eastern instrumental music, rhythmic ostinato, and his famous ‘Khachaturian seconds.’ An "Armenian national treasure,” Khachaturian is credited with bringing Armenian music worldwide recognition.
Utilizing some musical material first presented in Dance Suite for Orchestra (1933), Khatchaturian composed Armenian Dances for the Red Army Cavalry Band in 1943. Armenian folk tunes “Chem-Chem” and “Shalakho” are presented amid original material crafted by the composer. Rhythmic layering, melodic flair, dissonant harmonies, and folk material serve to unify this expression of traditional Armenian culture within this composition.
Planet B (2021)
Catherine Likhuta (b. 1981)
Alex Mondragon, conductor
Catherine Likhuta is a Ukrainian-born composer, pianist and recording artist currently residing in Australia. Her music is known for being highly emotional, programmatic in nature, and rhythmically complex. Likhuta’s works have enjoyed performances around the world by both professional and academic ensembles. She holds a bachelor’s degree in jazz piano from Kyiv Glière Music College, a five-year post-graduate degree in composition from Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine (Kyiv Conservatory), and a PhD in composition from the University of Queensland.
Planet B tells the story of a deeply wounded earth, marred by climate change and environmental damage. It begins from the perspective of space, vast and open, and zooms in on a suffering planet earth. The planet is hurting and letting out deep sighs. As the piece develops, the story turns to the people who are rising up and crying out for change. The anger and pain of the young generation is evident throughout the dramatically intensifying and violent middle sections, but eventually a new hope is born from sorrow. The sky clears and the earth is growing healthier and greener. The piece ends with a feeling of optimism and hope for a better future and the perspective zooms back out into emptiness of space.
Likhuta is nearing the end of a three-week residency in the United States, during which she attended several rehearsals of Planet B. The musicians of the Symphonic Band are grateful for her presence and the insights she shared during those rehearsals.
In partnership with The Ohio State University Center for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies
Requiem (2013)
David Maslanka (1943–2017)
David Maslanka was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1943. He attended the Oberlin College Conservatory where he studied composition with Joseph Wood. He spent a year at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, and completed master's and doctoral studies in composition at Michigan State University, where his principal teacher was H. Owen Reed.
Maslanka’s music for winds has become especially celebrated. Among his catalog of over 150 compositions are more than 50 works for wind ensemble, including eight symphonies, seventeen concertos, a Mass and numerous concert pieces. His chamber music includes four wind quintets, five saxophone quartets and a number of works for solo instrument and piano.
Of this composition, composer David Maslanka wrote:
A Requiem is a Mass for the dead. This relatively brief instrumental piece with the title "Requiem" is not a Mass but serves a parallel function — the need to lay to rest old things in order to turn the mind and heart toward the new.
I have an abiding interest in why humans go to war. I have recently read much about World War II and was confronted once again with the awful fact of fifty million needless deaths. Shostakovich thought of every one of his compositions as a tombstone and wished that he could have written a separate memorial piece for every person who died in war.
I do believe that we are in a major transitional time, and that this transition happens first in each of us. My Requiem is both for the unnamed dead of all wars, and for each person making their own inner step, saying goodbye in order to say hello.
The Ohio State University School of Music hosted Maslanka for a residency in the spring of 2016 — just a year before his passing — during which he coached, lectured and inspired our students and faculty through his music and deeply spiritual presence.
Steampunk Suite (2017)
Erika Svanoe (b. 1976)
I. Charlie and the Mechanical Man Marching Band
Erika Svanoe is a conductor, composer and educator, currently serving as the conductor of the Augsburg Concert Band at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Svanoe earned a DMA in conducting from The Ohio State University, an MM in wind conducting from Oklahoma State University, and a BME from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Her first major work, “The Haunted Carousel,” won the 2014 NBA Young Band Composition Contest. Her other works have been featured at the Midwest Clinic, the American Bandmasters Association National Conference, the Boston New Music Festival, Wisconsin Public Radio; and have been performed by “The President's Own” United States Marine Band. She currently lives in Menomonie, Wisconsin with her husband, designer and graphic novelist Erik Evensen.
Steampunk Suite was adapted for concert band by the composer from an earlier work for chamber ensemble entitled Steampunk Scenes. The concert band setting was premiered by the Ohio State Wind Symphony in 2017. About the work, the composer writes:
Steampunk Suite attempts to depict various scenes that take place in a fictional alternate history that features notable people alive in the Victorian era, including Charles Ives, Marie Curie, H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, P. T. Barnum and Nikola Tesla. It borrows from popular music of the era, including the cakewalk, march and waltz, and combines them with sounds of clockwork and imagined steam technology. It also borrows various musical elements from numerous composers of time, including Ives, Sousa, Satie, Karl King, Stravinsky and Weill, with some Khachaturian and Danny Elfman thrown in for good measure!
Big Four on the River (2014)
James M. David (b. 1978)
James David currently serves as professor of composition and music theory at Colorado State University. He holds degrees from both the University of Georgia and Florida State University. His works have been performed around the world by some of the most celebrated ensembles, including the United States Army and Air Force Bands. As a native of southern Georgia, David began his musical training under his father Joe A. David III, a renowned high school band director and professor of music education in the region. This lineage can be heard in his music through the strong influence of jazz and other Southern traditional music mixed with contemporary idioms.
Of this composition, the composer writes:
"Big Four on the River" is a short work for wind ensemble inspired by the historic riverfront cities of my native Southeastern United States. Cities like Savannah, Charleston and New Orleans share a rich cultural heritage that reflects the diversity and conflict found within the region. Of course, jazz played a strong role in these towns and is on full display in this piece. The ‘big four’ refers to the emphasis on the fourth beat of each bar in traditional jazz (particularly in second line drumming). The work moves through time beginning with a strong Dixieland flavor, moving to the swing era, followed by 70’s fusion, and finally a touch of indie grunge.
ROSTER
The Ohio State University Symphonic Band
Musicians are listed alphabetically by section.
PICCOLO
Noah Breitenbecher
Sunny Jiang
FLUTE
Noah Breitenbecher
Hanna Everding
Austin Frias
Sunny Jiang
Ray Johnson §
Danica Lipp ∆
Lauren Parrett +
Kayla Reid
Grace Reven
Coral Varian
OBOE
Kayla Olson ∆+
Laura Pitner
Adil Zafar
ENGLISH HORN
Laura Pitner
BASSOON
Aydan Bennett
Bobby Schwartz ∆+
Lucas Swiderski
E-flat CLARINET
Jacob Behrend
CLARINET
Jacob Behrend
Lucas Blair
Samantha Buckley
Laurel Dean
Joseph DeCillis §∆+
Zachary Grant
Bella Haines
Favius Pena-Amaya §
Ryan Rennie
Jessica Sullivan
BASS CLARINET
Meghan Jensen
Mason Williams ∆
ALTO SAXOPHONE
Brennan Colvard
Zach Langbein ∆+§
TENOR SAXOPHONE
Katia de Jong
BARITONE SAXOPHONE
Chris White
TRUMPET
Ruth Bonnice
Benjamin Dickson
Zach Heffner
John Heino
Elisabeth Lewis
Gavin Newton +
Alessandro Nocera
Bobby Petty
Nick Schnitzspahn ∆
HORN
Theresa Deevers
Shawnta Hunter ∆+
Eric Ji
Nora Lemmon
Mirai Nawa
David Whitacre
TROMBONE
Anthony Frankowski
Nik Henderson ∆+
Owen Kovach
Ashleigh Mastilak
BASS TROMBONE
Eric Oxsalida
Sophia Rowland
EUPHONIUM
Jacob Carlson ∆+
Ayden Casa
Andrew Eynon
TUBA
Jared Brandt
Avery Voress ∆+
Patrick Woo
PERCUSSION
Emmie Hess
Cierra Miller
Erin Rybinski
Kyle Thomas ∆+
Kyle Turner
Haydn Veith
DOUBLE BASS
Dallas Carpenter *
PIANO
Jiung Yoon *
∆ principal player
+ section leader
§ board member
* assisting musician
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