Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025 • 7:30 p.m.
Weigel Auditorium
Columbus, OH
WIND SYMPHONY
Russel C. Mikkelson, conductor
Uiliami Fihaki, guest conductor
Brooke Woods, guest conductor
"Dance Movements"
PROGRAM
An Outdoor Overture
Aaron Copland (1900–1990)
Brooke Woods, graduate conductor
Aaron Copland composed An Outdoor Overture for an entirely indoor occasion: a concert by the orchestra of the High School of Music and Art in New York City on December 16, 1938. The school's conductor, Alexander Richter, was in the process of launching a campaign to foster the writing of "American music for American youth," and the composer found the invitation to write such a work "irresistible" (all the more, perhaps, because his music was undergoing a stylistic change). An Outdoor Overture was a milestone in confirming this change, since it was written for young people to play, and the vague criterion of accessibility therefore mattered more to Copland than it had before. This change proved crucial, of course, as the works of this period, including Appalachian Spring and Rodeo, and culminating in the Third Symphony of 1946, have remained his best-loved, most-performed scores.
— Note from Program Notes for Band
Allerseelen
Richard Strauss (1864–1949)
arr. A. O. Davis
Richard Strauss was one of Germany's greatest composers. A great master of orchestration, he created tone poems in which the orchestra became one marvelous instrument, capable of expressing the whole gamut of human emotions. Among them Till Eulenspiegel, Death and Transfiguration, Don Quixote and The Hero's Life, beside his fabulous operas such as Der Rosenkavalier, Salome and others, are masterpieces.
His art songs also achieved fame and success, among which Allerseelen became a great favorite. Several times it has been transcribed for orchestra; however, the present setting is the first for symphonic band. The melody surges throughout, much in the style of Wagner. This edition adds another classic tone-poem to the band repertoire.
— Note from score
La Procession del Rocio
Joaquín Turina (1882–1949)
arr. Alfred Reed
Uiliami Fihaki, graduate conductor
La Procession du Rocio was given its premiere in Madrid in 1913. Every year in Seville, during the month of June, there takes place in a section of the city known as Triana, a festival called the Procession of the Dew in which the best families participate. They make their entry in their coaches following an image of the Virgin Mary on a golden cart drawn by oxen and accompanying by music. The people dance the soleare and the seguidilla. A drunkard sets off firecrackers, adding to the confusion. At the sound of the flutes and drums, which announce the procession, all dancing ceases. A religious theme is heard and breaks forth mingling with the pealing of the church bells and the strains of the royal march. The procession passes and as it recedes, the festivities resume, but at length they fade away.
Composer Joaquin Turina (1882–1949) was a native of Spain, but was influenced early in his career by the impressionistic harmonies of Debussy and Ravel while studying in Paris. Upon returning to Spain, he drew inspiration from Spanish folk music with La Procession du Rocio becoming one of his best-known works. The music portrays a festival and procession that takes place in the Triana neighborhood of Seville, and is filled with wonderful idiomatic Spanish musical elements. Alfred Reed’s marvelous transcription created in 1962 remains an enduring staple in the repertoire for wind bands.
—Intermission—
Dance Movements
Philip Sparke (b. 1951)
I. Ritmico
II. Molto vivo (for the woodwinds)
III. Lento (for the brass)
IV. Molto ritmico
The composer writes:
Dance Movements was commissioned by the United States Air Force Band and first performed by them at the Florida Music Educators’ Association Convention in January 1996. It is cast in four movements which are played without a break; the second and third feature woodwinds and brass, respectively.
In many respects, the circumstances of the commission itself were the musical inspiration for the piece: I had been asked to write for a very large band, which included piano and harp. It was the first time I had used these instruments in a concert band score and (as in Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements) their presence coloured the score and, indeed, the type of music I wrote.
The four movements are all dance-inspired, although no specific dance rhythms are used. The first has a Latin American feel and uses xylophone, cabasa, tambourine and wood block to give local colour. The second woodwind movement uses a tune that had been plaguing me for some time and is, I suppose, in the style of an English country dance. The brass movement was composed without a specific dance analogy, but I think it can been seen as a love duet in classical ballet. The fourth and longest movement has, I hope, cured me of a ten-year fascination, almost obsession, with the music of Leonard Bernstein, and I will readily admit that it owes its existence to the fantastic dance music in West Side Story.
I. Ritmico. The opening theme on horns and saxophones is played amidst stabbing chords from the top and bottom of the band. A gentler theme follows on piccolo and clarinet, followed by the flute, oboe, trumpet, harp and glockenspiel. The main motif of the movement then arrives, which includes a dotted rhythm, which is to recur at all significant moments. A climax is reached and an angular figure follows on oboes, saxophones and clarinets. Previous material then reappears to bring the movement to a close.
II. Molto Vivo (for the Woodwinds). The second movement starts with a rustic dance tune, which is continually interrupted. It passes through various keys and stages of development until a bubbling ostinato arrives on piano, harp, glockenspiel and cello. Over this, the oboe lays a languid tune, which is then taken up by soprano and alto saxophones. Clarinets and lower winds introduce a new idea; it is built on 9th and 11th chords, highly syncopated and interspersed by snatches of the ostinato. Eventually the oboe theme reappears, accompanied by the lower wind chords. The dance tune then establishes itself once more and reaches a climax before winding down to a close.
III. Lento (for the Brass). The third movement opens with whispering muted trumpets, harp and vibraphone. Declamatory statements from horn and trombone answer each other and a slow and majestic chorale gets underway. Trumpets join to reach a climax where the original trombone statement reappears, bringing back the opening trumpets figures.
IV. Molto ritmico. The final movement bursts into life with a passage featuring the percussion section. The whole band then joins in until a driving bass ostinato establishes itself. Melodic snatches are thrown around the band until a gradual crescendo leads to a unison passage for the entire band. A robust theme appears on horns and saxophones but eventually the earlier sinister music returns. After a short pause a plaintive tune on the woodwinds leads to a more rhythmic one on the brass, but it is not long before the percussion remind us of the opening of the movement, and the ostinato reappears. The robust horn tune is this time played by the full band but the moment of triumph is short and a running passage appears that starts in the bottom of the band but works its way to the upper woodwinds. Eventually the brass plays a noble fanfare that dispels the darker mood and ends the movement in a blaze of colour.
— Philip Sparke
Personnel
Wind Symphony
Piccolo
Lance Korte
Shreeya Yampati
Flute
Jonathan Mitchell *
Lance Korte
Shreeya Yampati
Kaleigh Rummel
Katelyn Cheng
Karis Brennan
Danica Lipp
Oboe
Benjamin Newman *
Briele Vollmuth
Laura Pitner
English Horn
Laura Pitner
Bassoon
Brandon Golpe *
Gunnar Pellissier
Steven Swiderski
Contrabassoon
Gunnar Pellissier
E-flat Clarinet
Samuel Langer
Clarinet
Almudena Curros Varela *
Bernadette John
Samuel Langer
Xinchen Du
Asa Mattson
Joseph Zishka
Favius Peña-Amaya
Sonny Day
Landen Gedeon
Bass Clarinet
Leah Henning
Christopher Larsen Rivera
Contrabass Clarinet
Christopher Larsen Rivera
Alto Saxophone
Cooper Greenlees *
Ziheng Huang
Alyssa Hartman
Sammy Smith
Tenor Saxophone
Sean Bauman
Sammy Smith
Baritone Saxophone
Hudson Müller
Horn
Kaylee Skaris *
Andrew Waite
Olivia Boden
Nora Lemmon
Nicholas Blum
Paul Bissler
Trumpet
Brandon Ising *
Will Fisher
Bobby Petty
Nick Schnitzspahn
Abbey Zunic
Zach Heffner
Connor Caviness
Jude Abuzeide
Trombone
Gavin Abrams *
DJ Austin
Jacob Myers
Lucia Cherok
Sebastian Peña
Bass Trombone
Nik Henderson
Euphonium
Ayden Casa *
Andrew Eynon
Sayaka Iimura
Tuba
Justin White *
Zane Tekaucic
Adam Johnson
Percussion
Stephen Alexander *
Kye Pyeatt
Josh Green
Brody Fogle
Noah Landrum
Nathan Smith
Piano/Celeste
Manuel Vizurraga
Double Bass
Carson Wolf
Harp
Abigail Bachelor (faculty)
* principal
31st Annual Music Celebration Concert
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Mershon Auditorium, 1871 N. High St.
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