Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025 • 7:30 p.m.
Weigel Auditorium
Columbus, OH
Wind Symphony Chamber Winds
Russel C. Mikkelson, conductor
Jonathan King, guest artist, piano
Paul Bissler and Uiliami Fihaki, guest conductors
Program
Overture to Die Zauberflöte
W. A. Mozart (1756–1791)
Joseph Heydenreich/Bastiaan Blomhert
Uiliami Fihaki, graduate student conductor
In eighteenth-century Europe, noblemen enjoyed musical accompaniment to their meals, parties and other social events. The wind octet (or, as the Viennese termed it, Harmonie) consisting of pairs of oboes, clarinets, horns and bassoons proved the ideal medium, and many aristocrats established their own private Harmonie - even public taverns and other gathering spots would engage the services of a professional wind band. At first, most Harmoniemusik consisted of transcriptions of the popular operas of the day; in fact such transcriptions became big business. In July 1782 Mozart wrote to his father:
"I am up to my eyes in work, but next Sunday I have to arrange my opera (Abduction from the Seraglio) for wind instruments. If I don't, someone will get to it before I do and reap the profits. You have no idea how difficult it is to arrange a work of this kind for wind instruments, so that it suits these instruments and yet loses none of its effect."
Mozart seems never to have completed his transcription: his operas in Harmoniemusik form have reached us through the pens of contemporaneous oboists and clainetists: Georg Triebensee, Johann Nepomuk Wendt and Joseph Heidenreich. Heidenreich was a prolific arranger of operas, but his solution to the development section (where Mozart's modulations introduced keys beyond the capabilities of the instruments of his time) was simply to cut it out.
This modern adaptation by Bastiaan Blomhert restores the missing development section (there is such a thing as progress), adds a flute (restoring the leading instrumental character — "the magic oboe" just wouldn't be right....), and that reinforces the low voices with a double bass (following the practice recommended by Mozart's friend and leader of the Imperial Harmonie, Anton Stadler.
— Note by Michael Votta
Old Wine in New Bottles
Gordon Jacob (1895–1984)
Paul Bissler, graduate student conductor
Gordon Jacob composed Old Wine in New Bottles (1959) when he was 64 years old for the St. Bees Festival of Music. The festival was hosted by the St. Bees School, a coeducational grammar school, located in St. Bees Village on the coast of Cumbria near the English and Scottish border. In 1959, Donald Leggat, the music director at St. Bees School, approached his friend Gordon Jacob to compose a piece for the festival. Old Wine in New Bottles premiered April 4 at 8 p.m. in Rawnsley Hall, located in the nearby village of Keswick. The premiere was conducted by Donald Leggat and the membership consisted of mostly members of the St. Bees Symphony Orchestra; however, two of Donald Leggat’s former pupils -- Timothy Reynish and Guy Woolfenden -- played French horn.
The premiere performance was entirely successful and the following week received a gleaming review in the local paper: "It is not often to-day that a new work is the most popular in any concert programme. But Gordon Jacob’s 'Old Wine in New Bottles' written specially for the festival amply deserved its success. This is a suite of four folk-song settings for woodwind and brass in which the composer displays all the dexterity of instrumental writing and harmonic ingenuity for which his music is well known. The Raggle Taggle Gypsies, The Three Ravens, and Begone Dull Care formed the basis of three well-contrasted movements. The final Early One Morning blended discreet sentiment, wit, and high spirit with a felicitous craftsmanship in a manner which recalled that of a Haydn finale."
— Note by Marc Decker
— Brief Interval —
Hommage a l’Ami Papageno
Jean Francaix (1912–1997)
Jonathan King, piano
Françaix himself described this work as an imaginary dialogue between the greatest composer of all times and his obedient servant. “My Hommage à l’ami Papageno is more than just a paraphrase. It is a musical expression of my gratitude towards the musician whom people left to die in poverty. This gratitude is recognizable throughout the entire piece: Both the elegiac, atmospheric wind setting and the loving arrangement of the main themes from The Magic Flute bear witness to that.”
Little Threepenny Music
Kurt Weill (1900–1950)
- Overture
- The Ballad of Mack the Knife
- The Instead-of Song
- Ballad of the Easy Life
- Polly's Song
- Tango Ballad
- Cannon Song
- Threepenny Finale
First performed on August 31, 1928, Weill's Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera) was a "play with music" adapted by Bertolt Brecht from John Gay's eighteenth-century The Beggar's Opera. Eventually banned by the Nazi government, The Threepenny Opera paints a not-too-flattering portrait of 1920s German society, Brecht revealing the dregs of humanity (and casting a very wide net in the process) through an inspired political satire. Although the work was not expected to succeed, it proved to be the biggest theatrical success of the Weimar Republic, running for more than 350 performances over the next two years. In fact, the Dreigroschen fever that gripped Germany from 1928 to 1930 soon spread to other countries, including the United States, where in the mid-1950s 2,611 consecutive performances were given in New York, making The Threepenny Opera the longest-running musical show at the time.
Commissioned by the famous German conductor Otto Klemperer, the suite Kleine Dreigroschenmusik (Little Threepenny Music) was first performed four months after the opera's premiere at the Berlin Opera Ball.
— Note by Russel C. Mikkelson
The Wind Symphony Chamber Winds
Flute
Jonathan Mitchell
Lance Korte
Shreeya Yampati
Kaleigh Rummel
Katelyn Cheng
Karis Brennan
Oboe
Benjamin Newman
Briele Vollmuth
Laura Pitner
English Horn
Laura Pitner
Bassoon
Brandon Golpe
Isaiah Heyman
Gunnar Pellissier
Steven Swiderski
Contrabassoon
Gunnar Pellissier
Clarinet
Almudena Curros Varela
Bernadette John
Samuel Langer
Xinchen Du
Asa Mattson
Joseph Zishka
Favius Peña-Amaya
Bass Clarinet
Leah Henning
Saxophone
Cooper Greenlees
Sean Bauman
Horn
Kaylee Skaris
Andrew Waite
Olivia Boden
Nora Lemmon
Nicholas Blum
Paul Bissler
Trumpet
Brandon Ising
Will Fisher
Bobby Petty
Nick Schnitzspahn
Trombone
Gavin Abrams
Tuba
Justin White
Percussion
Stephen Alexander
Kye Pyeatt
Accordion
André Felipe
Banjo/Guitar
Fé Beatty
Piano
Manuel Vizurraga
Double Bass
Carson Wolf
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Special Public Concerts in Mershon Auditorium
Marching Band Hometown Concert
Friday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. | Mershon Auditorium, 1871 N. High St.
Enjoy an exciting new show when The Ohio State University Marching Band Hometown Concert performs at Mershon Auditorium. The Best Damn Band in the Land will entertain fans with selections from its popular halftime shows, fan favorites and traditional Ohio State tunes. Purchase tickets
31st Annual Music Celebration Concert
Friday, Dec. 5 at 7:30 p.m. | Mershon Auditorium, 1871 N. High St.
Join us for our annual community celebration featuring student bands, choirs, jazz bands, orchestra and more. Purchase tickets