Thursday, March 27, 2025 • 7:30 p.m.
Stambaugh Auditorium
Youngstown, OH
The Ohio State University Symphonic Band
Scott A. Jones, conductor
Shawn Davern, guest conductor
Opus 88 Project
Thank you for joining us this evening at the beautiful Stambaugh Auditorium for this performance by the musicians of the Ohio State Symphonic Band. We are delighted to be performing in this part of our state, and to share the stage with the musicians of the band program at nearby Liberty High School. Thank you for having us to your community and welcoming us so warmly!
The Symphonic Band is on this short tour as part of an initiative within our School of Music called “Opus 88 Project.” Our School of Music is endeavoring to reach and serve diverse audiences in schools and communities in each of the 88 counties in Ohio. In the three years since its inception, we are well on our way to reaching that goal.
Notes on this evening’s program are below, and crafted to supplement your listening experience. You are more than welcome to refer to them on your device as the performance proceeds.
On behalf of the musicians of Symphonic Band and our School of Music, we extend a great deal of gratitude to the many individuals who made this evening’s performance possible:
- Liberty Band Boosters
- Michael Summers and Gabriella Sandy (Liberty Band Directors)
- Hayden Nottingham (YSU Student Teacher)
- Liberty Schools Administration (Mr. Knight, Mr. Zetts, Mr. Housel, and Mr. Smith)
- Liberty High School Faculty and Staff
- “Bull and Bear” Local Restaurant and Tavern (Scott Husk)
- Stambaugh Auditorium (Matt Pagac, Dani Dier and Crew)
We hope you enjoy the performance!
— Scott A. Jones, conductor
Urban Light (2021)
James M. David (b. 1978)
Urban Light is a brilliant display of colors, forward momentum, and intertwining rhythmic layers that is inspired by the iconic Los Angeles landmark of the same name. Primary melodic and rhythmic motives are derived from Morse code for the word "California," creating an asymmetrical and syncopated groove that continuously builds in energy. Parallel "barre" chords reveal a classic rock/metal influence that reaches its zenith with a heavy percussion backbeat. Polyrhythmic layers and varying textures lead toward a thrilling and intense finale.
James M. David is an internationally recognized composer who currently serves as associate professor of composition and music theory at Colorado State University, and is particularly known for his works involving winds and percussion. He 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.
Three Latin Dances (2018)
Jeff Tyzik (b. 1951)
Shawn Davern, conductor
Three Latin Dances was composed for the Eastman Wind Ensemble at the request of Mark Scatterday in September 2018. In this short suite, Tyzik uses three different popular Latin dance forms. The first dance section is based on the Danzón, a Cuban dance that is slow, formal and elegant. The Danzón transitions into a Cha Cha, another Cuban dance that is a medium tempo rhythmic dance that he first experienced during his student days at Eastman. After a brief recap of the Danzón, another transition evolves into a Malambo, an Argentine dance that is exciting, up-tempo, and whose roots can be traced back to the 1600s.
Jeff Tyzik is an American conductor, arranger and trumpeter working primarily with orchestral and jazz styles. Tyzik was born in upstate New York and studied at Eastman School of Music under luminaries like Donald Hunsberger, Warren Benson and Rayburn Wright. Tyzik currently serves as the principal pops conductor with the Detroit, Dallas, Oregon and Florida orchestras, and has held the principal pops conductor position with the Rochester Philharmonic for the past 25 orchestra seasons. During his tenure with the RPO, Tyzik has composed, arranged or orchestrated over 250 works for orchestra.
Adoration (1951/2022)
Florence Price (1887–1953), ed. Cheldon Williams
Florence Price was a prolific American composer whose race and gender made it difficult for her contributions to join the widely accepted musical canon in the decades following her life. A pioneer, Price is considered the first Black woman recognized as a symphonic composer, and was the first to have her music performed by a major American orchestra when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra gave the world premiere of her Symphony No. 1 in 1933.
Price's catalog of compositions boasts an impressive array of symphonies, concertos, chamber music, various symphonic works, choral works, piano music, and music for the organ. Adoration in its original form is one of Price's compositions for organ, and fits within the genre of her semi-secular compositions.
The Adventures of Jesse Owens (2023)
Michael Daugherty (b. 1954)
1. Cotton
2. Berlin (1936 Olympics)
3. Gold
The Adventures of Jesse Owens for Symphonic Band was commissioned by Kappa Kappa Psi, National Band Fraternity, and Tau Beta Sigma, National Band Sorority for the National Intercollegiate Band. The composition is cast in three movements (the first two of which proceed without pause).
1. Cotton
Jesse Owens (1913–1980) was the youngest of ten children, the son of a sharecropper, and the grandson of enslaved people. The family lived in a small shack in rural Oakville, Alabama and everyone picked cotton for a living, including Jesse beginning at age seven. The first movement is a “work song” composed of pulsating, multi-layered ostinatos accompanied by a rhythmically relentless anvil.
2. Berlin (1936 Olympics)
As a student athlete on the track and field team at The Ohio State University, Jesse Owens set five world records in 1935. He was subsequently invited to join the United States Olympic team for the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany. The German Nazi Party hoped that hosting the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin would provide an international showcase for the Third Reich and give legitimacy to its racist policies of Aryan supremacy. The participation of American Jewish and Black athletes subsequently caused great controversy. In the second movement, I allude to three different musical works associated with the opening ceremonies of the 1936 Berlin Olympics: Richard Strauss: Olympische Hymne (1936); My Country, ‘Tis of Thee (also known as America, 1831); Deutschlandlied(German National Anthem, 1922). As these melodies are interrupted by rolling drums, the ominous mood of the music anticipates World War II, started by Germany in 1939.
3. Gold
By winning four gold medals and setting world records in the 100 meter, 200 meter, 400 meter relay and long-jump, Jesse Owens became the most successful athlete of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. His victories made international headlines as “the fastest man in the world,” challenging the German Nazi doctrine of Aryan supremacy. Inspired by the superhuman feats of Jesse Owens at the Olympics, the brightly orchestrated final movement, marked “Presto,” moves at breakneck speed to a triumphant finish line.
— Note by the composer
Multiple GRAMMY Award-winning composer Michael Daugherty has achieved international recognition as one of the ten most–performed American composers of concert music, according to the League of American Orchestras. Daugherty was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 1954, and is the son of a dance-band drummer and the oldest of five brothers, all professional musicians. Daugherty joined the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance in 1991 as professor of composition, where he is a mentor to many of today’s most talented young composers. He is also a frequent guest of professional orchestras, festivals, universities and conservatories around the world.
Performance by the Combined Musicians of The Ohio State Symphonic Band and the Liberty High School Bands
Scarborough Fair (2007)
Andrew Boysen, Jr. (b. 1968)
“Scarborough Fair” is the final movement of a larger work, Three Folk Song Settings for Band, by American composer Andrew Boysen, Jr. The larger composition was commissioned by Russ Kramer and the Mason City (Iowa) High School Symphonic Band, and was premiered in 2007.
This highly energetic music presents the familiar folk tune, "Scarborough Fair," first in solo clarinet before being passed along to other instruments and sections. As the final movement of a suite, there are moments in which two other folk songs (previous movements) are presented: “Poor Wayfaring Stranger” and “All the Pretty Little Horses.” Excitement grows as each of the three folk tunes are presented simultaneously, which brings the piece to a highly celebratory conclusion.
Andrew Boysen, Jr. is professor of music and director of bands at the University of New Hampshire. His composition catalog boasts hundreds of compositions for many musical genres, but his greatest acclaim is for his wind band compositions. Dr. Boysen was a guest on the Ohio State campus in 2017 as part of a commercial recording project of his music by the Ohio State Symphonic Band: At Home: the music of Andrew Boysen, Jr. (available on audio streaming platforms).
Sounds from the Oval (2018)
Lisa Galvin (b. 1962)
Native Ohioan Lisa Galvin holds two degrees from The Ohio State University, and recently retired after a tremendously successful career as a public school music educator in Central Ohio. A gifted arranger and composer, Galvin is a member of the arranging staff for The Ohio State University Marching Band, and has several concert band works published through C. L. Barnhouse Music.
Sounds from the Oval was commissioned in 2018 by the musicians of the Ohio State Symphonic Band, and was made possible through funding from a Student Organizations Programming Grant. The medley includes four iconic Ohio State campus songs: “Across the Field,” “I Wanna Go Back to Ohio State,” the university’s alma mater “Carmen Ohio,” and “Buckeye Battle Cry.” Performances of this new setting of campus songs on this tour are dedicated to Ohio State alumni across our country and around the world. “O-H!”
Ohio State Symphonic Band Personnel
Musicians are listed alphabetically by section.
Piccolo
Nic Digena
Flute
Melanie Ahn §
Karis Brennan ∆
Nic Digena
Maryssa Hoermle
Haley Svec
Oboe
Claire Rottman
Briele Vollmuth ∆
Maddie Wittman
English Horn
Brielle Vollmuth
Bassoon
Olive Bennett
Lucas Swiderski ∆
Contra Bassoon
Gunnar Pellissier *
Clarinet
Jacob Behrend ∆
Mackenzi Buynak
Jarom Christensen
Sonny Day
Landen Gedeon
Zachary Grant §
Jenna Harkin
Adam Lee
Aoi Nishiyama
Nicholas Ritchey
Logan Sturgeon
Ethan White
Bass Clarinet
Leah Henning
Quinn Jensen ∆
Contrabass Clarinet
Quinn Jensen
Alto Saxophone
Katia de Jong §
Gabe Gasper
Alyssa Hartman ∆
Yourong Liu
Tenor Saxophone
Sammy Smith §
Baritone Saxophone
Kyle Buchwalter
Trumpet
Graham Bentley
Connor Caviness ∆
Ava Diederich
Noah Madsen
Connor Milner
Allison Morris
Eric Pattison
Horn
Caleb Anderson
Nicholas Blum ∆
Maggie Carter
Jared Giovannone
Katherine Indyk
Mirai Nawa
Allie Polzin
Ben Wainwright
Trombone
Nolan Call
Lucia Cherok §
Clarissa Cousart
Jackson Fortner
Anthony Frankowski
Sam Giles
Jonathan Kessler
Ashleigh Mastilak
Sebastian Pena ∆
Euphonium
Matthew Grover
Sayaka Iimura
Hannah Lyons
Clayton Messinger ∆
Tuba
Luke Funk
Adam Johnson
Sydney Reeves
Lucas Snouffer ∆
Percussion
Garrett Campbell
Logan Crawford
Wesley Giles §
Peter Kindt
Mary Paydock §
Adam Quinn ∆
Piano
Kaiwei Guo
∆ principal player
§ board member
* assisting musician
Liberty Band Personnel
Piccolo
Nathan Li
Flute
Anna Brookbank
Danelle Coleman
Eralynn Dawson
Annabella Duffield
Chloe Fleps
Rylee Huston
Leah Nail
Kara Rice
Ka'Shon Turner
Yusuf Whitner
Hannah Zagotti
Clarinet
Isabella Adkins
Nyona Baldwin
Bryan Bankston
Saffron Blank
Layla Dixon
Xenia Garcia
Jaesha Harris
Isabella Hernandez
Sara Horn
Janiah Johnson
Peyton Kovach
Anani Lawrence
Tameron March
Josiah Moss
Mackenzie Rhodes
Micah Ross
Kennedy Rowe
Margret Russo
Kaydence Urrutia
Bass Clarinet
Sadie Earnheardt
Justin Nelms Jr.
Alto Saxophone
Joseph Croom
Michael Diana
Olivia Dixon
Jacob Levin
Kennedy Malone
Tyler Merrick-Sierra
Trinity Patterson
Annalise Terlecki
Kiera Thigpen
Noah Ziegler
Tenor Saxophone
Tyler Gulosh
Baritone Saxophone
Joseph Lowe
Trumpet
Avery Banjak
Elaine Briseno
Chase Burns
Nicholas Callihan
Cristian Gasser
Devon Grant
Jayden Hartsfield
Levi Hauser
Alisia Haydu
Amir Holliman
David Levin
Angel Murphy
Sylas Rader
Korey Sunday
Marquice Tate
Horn
Zaid Amireh
Xavier Carnathan
Caitlyn McGinnis
Blake Myers
Trombone
Uwais Ally
Kiley Backus
Zardai Banks
Katherine Earnheardt
William Gilmore
Kameron Harris
Brandon Riggleman
Euphonium
Terrill Blackshear
Gabrielle Fields
Isabella Russo
Tuba
Jayonn Harris
Benjamin Terlecki
Percussion
Rocco Ague
Zahne Brubaker
Trenaty Christian
Christian Colbrunn
William Dorsey
Jack Hope
Jaiden Jones
Aubrey Lauer
Jared Merrick-Sierra
Nehemiah Moore
Rachel Strohmeyer
Karter Thompson
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