Monday, Oct. 9, 2023 • 7:30 p.m.
Weigel Auditorium
Columbus, OH
Ohio State Symphonic Band
SCHOOL OF MUSIC
Scott A. Jones, conductor
Dustin Ferguson, DMA student conductor
Uiliami Fihaki, MM student conductor
Susan Powell, xylophone
Joseph Krygier, percussion
ARTS COLLABORATORS
Raina Telgemeier, graphic novelist
Justin Schell, performance visuals
Anne Drozd, curator
Jerzy Drozd, cartoonist
Rae Miller, voiceover artist
Aiden Schmidt, voiceover recording engineer
Ethan Dale, video editor
Tim Donel, production manager
PROGRAM
Notes on the program “Feeling Heard”
Thank you for joining us in the Timashev Family Music Building for this concert by the musicians of the Ohio State Symphonic Band. As you note above, many have contributed to this collaborative performance including the College of Arts and Sciences Office of Engagement and Office of Academic Affairs, as well as the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum and the School of Music. Thank you particularly the co-creators who have facilitated what you will experience tonight.
Tonight’s performance is inspired by an exhibition at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, located in nearby Sullivant Hall. The exhibition, Facing Feelings: The Art of Raina Telgemeier, celebrates the compelling accomplishments of illustrator and author Raina Telgemeier. Of her many gifts, Raina powerfully communicates emotions and feelings to readers through her graphic novels — more than 18 million copies in print!
What we as musicians have in common with Raina is the responsibility to communicate feelings and emotions to listeners. Ten days ago, Raina Telgemeier visited our rehearsal to explore the commonalities between cartoons and music. The conversation was filled with insights, questions and a great amount of joy.
We as performing musicians rarely inquire, however, what our audiences experience emotionally at a music performance. So, tonight we endeavor to pose such questions and pursue the essential goal of communicating emotionally through music. We have curated a collection of pieces that we hope will facilitate a wide variety of feelings and emotions. We call this program “Feeling Heard.” Many of the commonalities between cartoons and music will be evident as the performance proceeds. We share common creative elements in our expressions — line, color, hue, rhythm, shape, form, dynamic, articulation — as well as a common mission: to help our audiences “feel.”
Thank you for participating when asked to do so this evening — in some cases sharing with a neighbor, and in others using your smartphone to share your experience. We are looking forward to sharing our music with you and to you sharing your emotional experience with us.
Please join us, immediately following the performance, in the first-floor lobby of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library (a three-minute walk from the School of Music) for refreshments, conversation and the opportunity to visit the Raina Telgemeier exhibition.
— Scott A. Jones, conductor
Encore (2013)
Yo Goto (b. 1958)
Yo Goto is celebrated in his birth country of Japan and internationally as an accomplished composer and arranger of music for winds and percussion. Among his many awards and honors, Goto won the prestigious American Bandmasters Association Sousa/Ostwald Composition Contest in 2011 for his Songs for Wind Ensemble. Goto holds degrees in music education and composition from Yamagata University, the Tokyo College of Music, and the University of North Texas.
Encore was commissioned by the Ishikawa Prefecture Band Association to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2010. Reflective of such a significant anniversary, a celebratory and optimistic spirit is evident from the first notes of the composition to the last.
All Dark is Now No More:
Passacaglia Canonico e Granulare (2014)
James David (b. 1978)
Uiliami Fihaki, conductor
Composer James M. David currently serves as professor of music composition at Colorado State University. He began his musical training with his father, a renowned high school band director and university professor in Georgia. David holds degrees from the University of Georgia and Florida State University. David has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards including two Global Music Awards, the National Band Association Merrill Jones Award, the ASCAP Morton Gould Award, and the 2022 William D. Revelli Composition Contest.
Inspired by James Dickey’s poem “Sleeping out at Easter,” All Dark is Now No More is an exploration of the metaphysical connection between humans and nature found at the moment of sunrise. The Italian subtitle refers to the elemental structure of the piece. Passacaglia is the repeating bass line that is first stated by the bassoons, bass clarinet and euphonium. Canonico alludes to the thematic variations over the repeating bass line and granulare refers to the infusion of algorithmic clouds of digital chaos throughout the composition. David’s thoughtful treatment of these compositional elements facilitates the depiction of gradual movement from darkness to light ultimately culminating in a musical explosion.
The performance visuals that accompany this performance are the creative work of Justin Schell, director of “Creative Spaces and Learning Technologies” for the University of Michigan Library (Ann Arbor, Michigan), who joins us here tonight. The colors and hues used for the visualization were sampled from panels of Raina Telgemeier’s graphic novels (color by Sephanie Yue, Braden Lamb and Gurihiru).
Serenity — O magnum mysterium (2014)
Ola Gjeilo (b. 1978)
ed. Wilson and Gjeilo
Dustin Ferguson, conductor
Ola Gjeilo, a Norwegian-American composer and pianist, is celebrated for his remarkable musical talent and extensive composition education at prestigious institutions, including the Norwegian Academy of Music, The Juilliard School, and the Royal College of Music in London. While he is renowned for his choral compositions, highlighted in the award-winning album Northern Lights: Choral Works by Ola Gjeilo, his influence extends beyond the choral realm. Gjeilo's compositions for wind bands also exhibit the unmistakable mark of choral influences.
"Serenity" finds its inspiration in a choral composition bearing the same name. Originally composed for a mixed chorus and a solo string instrument, this piece beautifully captures the essence of the text from the responsorial chant O magnum mysterium, a part of the Christmas Matins liturgy. This text celebrates the promise of new life and hope, and composers who have interpreted these words have frequently infused their musical interpretations with a radiant sense of optimism and wonder. Although this wind band arrangement does not include the text, it maintains the original sentiment.
Fluffy Ruffles (1919)
George Hamilton Green (1893–1970)
ed. Levesque
Susan Powell, xylophone
Joseph Krygier, percussion
George Hamilton Green started playing at age 11, and by age 20 he was performing professionally in vaudeville where he was proclaimed "the fastest, most artistic, and most wonderful xylophonist and soloist in this country or abroad." He was one of the most popular artists in recorded history, acting as soloist, composer, arranger, and as part of various groups including the All Star Trio, Green Brothers' Xylophone Orchestra, and Green Brothers Novelty Band. Upon his retirement from music in 1946, Green pursued a successful career as an artist, illustrator and cartoonist.
“Fluffy Ruffles” was one of hundreds of dances — in this case a “one-step” — that Green composed, arranged and/or recorded during the early part of the 20th century. The advent of recordings and personally owned record players — like the Victrola — sparked a “dance craze” during at the time. The composition features a highly virtuosic solo xylophone part which floats above very singable (and danceable!) melodies supported by traditional harmonies. Tonight's performance features the xylophone artistry of our own percussion faculty, Susan Powell and Joseph Krygier.
Improvisations on Raina's Sketches
Colin Fogerty, alto saxophone
Austin Spillman, tenor saxophone
Katia DeJong, baritone saxophone
In addition to a shared compositional language (line, color, shape, form, gesture, balance, rhythm, tone…), music and cartoons also share the creative process of improvisation. Cartoonist Raina Telgemeier created a series of sketches depicting a particular feeling that will gradually be “revealed” on the projection screen. As the lines and shapes of the sketches appear, the three musicians will respond with improvised music inspired by the sketches.
The soloists are each members of the saxophone studio of Michael Rene Torres, which regularly explores free improvisation through a technique called “Soundpainting,” developed by Walter Thompson.
Some treasures are heavy with human tears (2021)
John Mackey (b. 1973)
The mass shooting in the early morning hours of August 4, 2019 in the Oregon Historic District of Dayton, Ohio claimed the lives of 9 people and injured 17 others. Some treasures are heavy with human tears was commissioned by the Bellbrook (Ohio) High School Band in commemoration of the events of that day, and in memory of a Bellbrook band alumna who perished in the tragedy.
“The piece isn’t trying to sound like what happened; it’s trying to convey what it feels like to know that it happened. The composition is … a meditation on grief. In framing the work in this way, Mackey’s music transcends elegizing a singular horrific event and instead provides an artistic representation of how we cope with all tragedies, both those that are intensely personal and the ones that are communal.”
Ohio was the childhood home of composer John Mackey, a graduate of Westerville South High School, located 20 minutes by car from campus. He has since achieved international acclaim as a composer, particularly for his works for concert band. Mackey composes exclusively by commission, and recent projects have included compositions for the BBC Singers; the Dallas Wind Symphony; military, high school, middle school and university bands across America and Japan. Mackey was most recently on the Ohio State campus this spring, when he and the musicians of the Symphonic Band shared both rehearsal of his music and conversation.
Star-Crossed (2013)
Andrew Boysen, Jr. (b. 1968)
and Erik Evensen (b. 1979)
"Star-Crossed," music by Andrew Boysen, Jr. and visual art by Erik Evensen, is a collaborative and multimedia work in which the Symphonic Band provides the underscoring for the animated story that unfolds on screen. The composition shares the story of a super-heroine ("Red Rhapsody") and a super-villain (“The Maverick”) who fall in love and have to make things work in spite of their conflicting "vocational callings."
Erik A. Evensen is a graphic designer, illustrator, graphic novelist and educator whose creative work often reinterprets topics from history, mythology and folklore. As a creative director, he specializes in visual identity, story-driven media, and illustration-forward design work, with past projects recognized by Graphic Design USA. Evensen holds degrees from The Ohio State University and the University of New Hampshire, and is currently professor of Design and director of the Master of Fine Arts in Design program at the University of Wisconsin–Stout.
Andrew Boysen, Jr. is presently a professor in the music department at the University of New Hampshire, where he conducts the wind symphony and teaches conducting and composition. He remains active as a guest conductor and clinician, appearing with high school, university and festival ensembles across the United States, Great Britain and Australia. He maintains an active schedule as a composer, receiving commissions from festival, university and high school concert bands across the United States. Boysen holds degrees from the University of Iowa, Northwestern University, and the Eastman School of Music.
All are invited to a reception in the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, located on the north side of Sullivant Hall. Guides will be strategically located along the route to guide the way! “Facing Feelings: The Art of Raina Telgemeier” exhibition will also be open for viewing.
ROSTER
Musicians are listed alphabetically by section.
Piccolo
Lance Korte
Grace Reven
Flute
Karis Brennan
Katelyn Cheng ∆
Nic Digena
Hanna Everding
Jhon Fajardo
Grace Gregg
Lance Korte
Grace Reven
Haley Svec
Jessica Wilson
Oboe
Sophie Craciun ∆
Maddie Wittman
Adil Zafar
English Horn
Adil Zafar
Bassoon
William Harper
Lucas Swiderski ∆
E-flat Clarinet
Jacob Behrend
Clarinet
Jacob Behrend
Samantha Buckley
Mackenzi Buynak
Ethan Dale
Zachary Grant
Jenna Harkin
Favius Pena-Amaya
Nicholas Ritchey
Joe Zishka ∆
Bass Clarinet
Leah Henning
Tori Steinbrecher ∆
Alto Saxophone
Colin Fogerty ∆
Alyssa Hartman
Tenor Saxophone
Austin Spillman
Baritone Saxophone
Katia de Jong
Trumpet
Graham Bentley
Ben Dickson
Will Fisher
John Heino
Joel Kellar
Bobby Petty ∆
Abbey Zunic
Horn
Nicholas Blum
Olivia Boden ∆
Shawnta Hunter
Katherine Indyk
Nora Lemmon
Mirai Nawa
Allie Polzin
Andrew Waite
Trombone
Lucia Cherok
Anthony Frankowski
Nik Henderson ∆
Safa Jeelani
Ashleigh Mastilak
Jordan Updegrove
Euphonium
Ayden Casa ∆
Kenneth Gutierrez-King
Sayaka Iimura
Clayton Messinger
Tuba
Michael Flowers ∆
Adam Johnson
Garrett Woolbert
Percussion
Brody Fogle
Mary Paydock ∆
Adam Quinn
TJ Mann
Cierra Miller
Kyle Thomas
Kyle Turner
Harp
Jillian Davis
Double Bass
Dallas Carpenter *
Piano
Kaiwei Guo
∆ principal player
§ board member
* assisting musician
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