Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025 • 7:30 p.m.
Weigel Auditorium
Columbus, OH
WIND SYMPHONY
Russel C. Mikkelson, conductor
Scott A. Jones, guest conductor
Sarah Baker, guest conductor
FACULTY GUEST SOLOIST
Timothy Leasure, trumpet
"Sound the Trumpet!"
Rocky Point Holiday
Ron Nelson (1929–2023)
Scott A. Jones, guest conductor
Rocky Point Holiday was a commission from Frank Bencriscutto and the University of Minnesota band for a tour of Russia. It was composed between 1968 and 1969. Bencriscutto had heard Nelson's orchestral work Savannah River Holiday and decided he wanted something virtuosic to take with him on the Russian tour. When asked about the limitations of the band, Bencriscutto told him there were none. "I'm going to write a tremendously difficult piece," Nelson warned him. "That's fine," replied Bencriscutto, and thus Rocky Point Holiday was born. Nelson says, "This was a pivotal moment in my notion of wind ensemble scoring, in which I focused on orchestrating in an extremely transparent way."
— Note by Nikk Pilato
Children’s March: “Over the Hills and Far Away”
Percy Grainger (1882–1961)
ed. Mark Rogers
Sarah Baker, guest conductor
“Over the Hills and Far Away” (1919) holds a special place in the composer’s works for band. Children’s March was not his first original work for wind band, for that honor goes to Lads of Wamphray March. Nor is it the first published work for wind band for Irish Tune from County Derry and Shepherd's Hey appeared in 1918.
Children’s March is the first composition of his maturity originally composed and scored for wind band and, indeed, one of his few compositions that does not exist in any full-length version suitable for performances by symphony orchestra. In contrast to many of Grainger’s other compositions, the march was provided with no program notes. The score bears the dedication “For my playmate beyond the hills,” which is understood by many Grainger scholars to reference Karen Holton, who shared a lengthy relationship with him during the first decade of the twentieth century. With instrumental demands unlike any band work before its time and few since, and with matching technical challenges made to the entire performing ensemble, Percy Grainger’s Children’s March remains one of the most original and satisfying parts of the wind band essential repertoire.
Spinning Wheel
James Stephenson (b. 1969)
Timothy Leasure, trumpet
Consortium premiere, version for wind ensemble
The composer writes:
I have now been very fortunate to have composed two works for Robert Sullivan, professor of trumpet at the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music. This one, at his request, to be written for his feature recital at the 2015 International Trumpet Guild (ITG) to be held in Columbus, Ohio.
Bob asked for a work more “popular” and “lyrical” in nature. Bob is one of the rare individuals who — through his trumpet — combines musicality with a beautiful sound, agility, strength, and exceptional lyricism. I tried to expose all of these qualities in Spinning Wheel, while creating a work accessible in nature, yet imbued with subtle depth.
The title comes from the roundabout left hand of the piano, as it weaves its way throughout most of the entire work. The hemiola effect creates a sense of infinite motion, and propels the music forward.
— Intermission —
Symphony No. 7
David Maslanka (1943–2017)
1. Moderate
2. Slow
3. Very fast
4. Moderately slow
David Maslanka’s Symphony No. 7 was completed in 2004. It was commissioned by a consortium of university bands that included The Ohio State University Wind Symphony.
The composer writes:
I am strongly affected by American folk songs and hymn tunes, and I think of this symphony as old songs remembered, with one exception. All of the tunes are original, but they all feel familiar. Each song has a bright side and a dark side, a surface and the dream underneath. Each is a signal or call, which evokes an inner world of associations.
I. Sunday night church services from your youth. Mr. Smith played the piano. The opening piano piece is marked "enthusiastically" in the score. A dream travels to a far place.
II. In the manner of an American folk song, with a setting that might come out of the 19th or early 20th centuries.
III. A ferocious fast music, unrelenting, determined to get a grip on chaos. Toward the end, a fractious quote of the Bach chorale melody Du Friedesfurst Herr Jesu Christ (Prince of Peace Lord Jesus Christ).
IV. A simple song of peace and healing.
Personnel
Piccolo
Braden Stewart
Katie Sharp
Sofia Geelhood
Flute
Katie Sharp *
Jonathan Mitchell
Braden Stewart
Sofia Geelhood
Lance Korte
Shreeya Yampati
Allie Gerckens
Oboe
Lauren Kowal *
Sophie Cracieun
Laura Pitner
English Horn
Laura Pitner
Bassoon
Brandon Golpe *
Isaiah Heyman
Bitania Petros
Contrabassoon
Isaiah Heyman
E-flat Clarinet
Bernadette John
Clarinet
Kaleigh McGee *
Bernadette John
Xinchen Du
Samuel Langer
Joseph Zishka
Asa Mattson
Christopher Larsen Rivera
Favius Pena-Amaya
Noah Reilly
Bass Clarinet
Rachel Weinstein *
Mason Williams
Alto Saxophone
Lucinda Dunne *
Cooper Greenlees
Tenor Saxophone
Sean Bauman
Baritone Saxophone
Colin Fogerty
Horn
Annie Moon *
Cheng Peng
Olivia Boden
Andrew Waite
Paul Bissler
Nora Lemmon
Trumpet
Luke Bingham *
Nick Schnitzspahn
Zach Heffner
Bobby Petty
Will Fisher
Abbey Zunic
Jude Abuzeide
Trombone
Tristan Miller *
Charlotte Stefani
Gavin Abrams
Alex Myers
Nik Henderson
Bass Trombone
Shawn Davern
Euphonium
Davis Aho *
Ayden Casa
Andrew Eynon
Tuba
Justin White *
Will Roesch
Zane Tekaucic
Percussion
Haydn Veith
Matt Hanson
Sam Sherer *
Brody Fogle
Noah Landrum
Nathan Smith
Sarah Baker (assisting)
Uiliami Fihaki (assisting)
Piano/Celeste
CJ Smyth-Small
Double Bass
Carson Wolf
Harp
Abigail Bachelor (faculty)
* principal
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