Friday, March 13, 2026  •  7:30 p.m.

North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA)
Biennial Conference

CLASSICAL SHOWCASE CONCERT

Mershon Auditorium | Columbus, OH

Russel C. Mikkelson, conductor
Scott A. Jones, guest conductor
Brooke Woods, graduate student conductor

With guest artists

Sarah Hetrick, saxophone
Otis Murphy, saxophone
Michael Rene Torres, saxophone

and the

Assembly Saxophone Quartet 
Jeff Heisler, soprano sax
Matthew Younglove, alto sax
Ian Jeffress, tenor sax
Adam Estes, baritone sax

PROGRAM

Rivers of Air

Jake Runestad (b. 1986)

Brooke Woods, graduate student conductor

"How infinitely superior to our physical senses are those of the mind! The spiritual eye sees not only rivers of water but of air... imagination gives us the sweet music of tiniest insect wings, enables us to hear, all round the world, the vibration of every needle, the waving of every bole and branch, the sound of stars in circulation like particles in the blood. Indeed, the power of imagination makes us infinite." — John Muir 

As a composer, I often imagine the soundtrack to my surroundings — especially while hiking in the beauty of mountains, forests, lakes and rivers. The crisp whisper of wind through pine needles, the babbling of a glacial river and the stoic quietness of old growth trees exude vivid aural colors, always available to the curious listener. But it is the mind’s ear that can take these sounds and scenes and imagine them into stories and symphonies. 

In Rivers of Air, I endeavored to capture the scenery and experience of hiking in Mt. Rainier National Park in Washington while creating my own imagined story. Visions of expansive mountain ranges from thousands of feet in the air, the rushing Nisqually River and the profound sacredness of old growth trees guided me as I wrote. In an age when humans seem to be continuously separating ourselves from the earth and from each other, Muir’s words remind us to listen deeply to all that is around us; and in that listening, we too can see (and hear) our own rivers of air. 

But this piece is much more than just a soundscape — it is a call for us to listen and preserve. In an age when humans are continuously separating ourselves from the Earth and from each other, Muir’s words (and actions) remind us to listen deeply to all that is around us. We are of the Earth, not separate from it — we must treat it with care, conserve it, protect it. We must remember that the earth was not created for humans to consume — it is our home and a beautiful balance of life in which all things are valid and important. Destroying our natural resources is detrimental to the health of the earth and will affect life for generations to come. Too many people have a greedy, destructive mindset with immediate gratification in mind. We must be more forward-thinking; we must be more protective of what is around us.

— Note by the composer

Time Unfolding (2024)

Alexandra Gardner (b. 1967)

1. Abundance Ratio
2. Infrared
3. Metallicity

Sarah Hetrick, alto saxophone
Assistant Professor of Saxophone, University of Arkansas

Scott A. Jones, guest conductor

Praised as “highly lyrical and provocative of thought” (San Francisco Classical Voice) and “mesmerizing” (The New York Times), the music of composer Alexandra Gardner is thrilling audiences and performers with a “particular alchemy of craft, whimsy, and sensual appeal” (The New Yorker). She blends acoustic instruments with field recordings, electronic textures, and elements of improvisation, building vivid sonic worlds residing on the edge of structure and spontaneity. Influenced by ideas of myth and ritual, scientific discovery, and the healing properties of sound, her music is known for its brightness, rhythmic vitality, and conceptual depth.

Gardner’s portfolio includes works for symphony orchestra, wind ensemble, chamber ensembles, solo instruments, and electronic media. She has created large-scale orchestral pieces for major U.S. symphonies, as well as intimate, interdisciplinary collaborations with choreographers, animators, and poets. Her music is commissioned and performed by leading organizations, ensembles, and soloists worldwide. She spent two years as a visiting composer at the Institut Universitari de l’Audiovisual in Barcelona, Spain, and served as Composer-In-Residence for the Seattle Symphony. Her music is recorded on the Innova, Ars Harmonica, Naxos, and Neuma labels.

Among Gardner’s awards and fellowships are recognitions from ASCAP, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Smithsonian Institution, and MacDowell. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland. For more information, visit www.alexandragardner.net.

The composer writes:

"Time Unfolding is inspired by the captivating images of galaxy and star formation from NASA's James Webb Telescope. The composition explores the profound implications of the nature of time, considering that the images, captured using infrared light, traveled billions of light years and provide glimpses into the early stages of the universe.

Each of the three movements is named for a method to capture information about the substance of stars and galaxies. The exuberant, bubbling opening movement, 'Abundance Ratio,' quantifies the amounts of individual elements in stars. In the slower, ethereal middle movement, 'Infrared,' I imagine the saxophone as a laser beam illuminating its surroundings as it sweeps through its full sonic range. 'Metallicity' tracks the heavier metal elements in stars and nebulas; the final movement is a forceful, driving groove with racing passages for the saxophone and an explosive finish.

This music is dedicated to my father, who transitioned to stardust during the composition of this work."

Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble

David Maslanka (1943–2017)

1. Fire in the Earth
3. Dear Jesus, what have you…done? (excerpt)
5. Song: Mortal, have you seen this?

Otis Murphy, alto saxophone
Professor of Saxophone, Indiana University

This concerto turned out to be a good deal larger than I would reasonably want. As I got into the composing, the ideas became insistent: none of them would be left out! The format of songs and interludes arises from my other recent works for saxophones (Mountain Roads for saxophone quartet and Song Book for alto saxophone and marimba), and suggests a music that is more intimate than symphonic. There is a strong spiritual overtone with quotes from Bach chorales, and from my own works Hell’s Gate and Mass. A story is hinted at which has the Crucifixion right smack in the middle — the climax of the third movement quotes the “Crucifixus” from the Mass. I don’t know what the story is, only that it wants to be music and not words. 

I. Song: “Fire in the Earth” 

Walking through a Montana field on a brilliant late fall day, three images came in rapid succession: a distant row of red plant stems caught by the morning sun, snow on the surrounding high mountains, green grass at my feet. The following poetic image came: 

Fire in the earth 
Snow in the heavens
New green grass in the middle of November

This is a quiet, emotional music — sometimes not so quiet — contained by a very simple song form. 

III. Song: “Dear Jesus, what have you DONE?!” 

This music grows out of the chorale Herzliebster Jesu, was hast du verbrocken (Dearest Jesus, what law did you break?). The chorale is the starting point for a huge upsurge of powerful emotion, cresting with the climax of the “Crucifixus” from the Mass. Dear Jesus, what have you done to get yourself crucified? ... And then you drag the rest of us up there with you!! 

V. Song: “Mortal, have you seen this?” 

In the Book of Ezekiel, the prophet has a vision of a man “whose appearance shone like bronze.” The “Bronze Man” shows him the Holy City. He then leads him into a deep and very wide river that cannot be crossed, and says “Mortal, have you seen this?” Where the river enters the sea the water becomes fresh; everything will live where the river goes; trees along the river will not wither, their fruit will be for food, their leaves for healing. 

This movement is an echo of the third. It opens and closes with what has been called the “coronation” music from my composition Hell’s Gate — in this case played very softly and inwardly. 

— Note by the composer 

INTERMISSION

Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Concert Band

Karel Husa (1921–2016)

1. Prologue
2. Ostinato
3. Epilogue

Michael René Torres, alto saxophone
Assistant Teaching Professor of Saxophone, The Ohio State University

Karel Husa's Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Concert Band reflects the rhythmic freedom and exploration of timbre found in many of the composer's works. The alto saxophone solo showcases an exceptional performer's range, articulation, technique, and lyricism. The accompanying ensemble parts call for finesse and require fine musicians. Husa's non-traditional tonality and style of interplay between solo and accompaniment yields a unique musical conversation for the performers. 

— Note from Great Music for Wind Band

Grosso Damn, Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Wind Ensemble

World Premiere

Katahj Copley (b. 1998)

1. South of Heaven
2. The Hope Abandoned (The Dripping Feather)
3. Both Sides of the Sky (Et in Acidia Ego)

Assembly Saxophone Quartet
Jeff Heisler, soprano saxophone
Matthew Younglove, alto saxophone
Ian Jeffress, tenor saxophone
Adam Estes, baritone saxophone

When the collaboration with the Assembly Saxophone Quartet began, I stumbled upon a work of art that captured my attention and imagination. The work was Peter Paul Reuben’s The Fall of the Damned — a baroque painting depicting the fall of rebel angels — being stripped of their angel wings and being condemned to the pits of hell — turning into fallen angels. The painting was both gruesome and beautiful with the use of color and drama. I studied the work to find more emotion and more of the imagery and what truly struck me wasn’t just the imagery, it was the story behind it. Flash forward to the 1960s, when the painting became the target of a bizarre act of vandalism. A man named Heinz Bihl threw acid on the painting, and in his own strange words, he claimed he didn’t intend to destroy it. Instead, he said the acid would "relieve one from the work of destruction." His reasoning, however disjointed, was that the acid would add the needed beauty to the work however this distorted the painting, adding to its horror rather than wiping it away. To me, this wasn’t just about the physical damage to the artwork; it was about how it transformed the piece into something even more unsettling, a distortion of the original vision and oddly enough opening a dark form of beauty.

When I first heard this story, it made me think deeply about the different time periods these events came from. Rubens created the painting during the Baroque period, a time of social order, naive control, and grand scale. Then, in the 1960s, the world was in the midst of a cultural revolution — marked by rebellion, the pursuit of freedom, and societal upheaval. The contrast between these two times felt almost too dramatic to ignore. It was as if the very essence of the painting had been torn from its roots, transformed by this act of destruction in a way that reflected the tumultuous world of the '60s.

This clash of worlds became the inspiration for my concerto. I wanted to capture the essence of "The Fall of the Damned" and the feelings I had about its history, using the language of Baroque music combined with the vivid, distorted colors of psychedelic rock. This would create Grosso Damn. 

The saxophone quartet became my vessel for storytelling. While the individual players stand apart, they come together as one unified force, sometimes mimicking the sounds of classical guitar, other times, an amplified electric guitar. The first movement, South of Heaven, represents the beginning of the descent — grounded in the world of Baroque music, with its structure and tension, a kind of musical falling into chaos. 

The second movement is a floating purgatory — both in a musical way and for me in a spiritual/creative way, there was a gap in writing the original movement to the second movement in a span of 6 months. During that time the work started to have a different feeling and meaning to me. I began to ask myself what would the sound of a melting feather be? What would the emotions be like? The second movement, The Hope Abandoned, pays homage to Dante’s Divine Comedy — specifically Inferno. With this movement I use unique percussion techniques like crotales on snare, super ball mallets on drums and cymbals, and different materials like aluminum foil to slowly create feelings of distortion and melting. The ensemble not only play but speak with despair and fleeting hopeful lines paint a space known as The Melting Feather Theory. The quartet plays melodic lines that are both melancholic and beautiful.

The final movement, Both Sides of the Sky, pays homage to Jimi Hendrix, an influential mind to the sound of psychedelic rock and black music. Studying Hendrix’s solos and songs, I realized his musical identity was a bridge between what at the time was considered demonic rock, with sultry sinning blues, and connecting it all back to the rooted gospel. With this movement I wanted there to be a feeling of how all these aesthetics are connected. In biblical terms the devil was an angel of music so it would be fitting that there is influence in good and evil found in music. For me, this piece is about embracing the beauty and turmoil that come when worlds collide, when order gives way to rebellion, and when the past meets the present in unexpected ways. And just like "The Fall of the Damned", it’s a reminder that sometimes, from destruction, something new and profound can emerge — something that can’t help but be both haunting and freeing.

Throughout writing this work I found myself constantly asking a question that I decided to leave the listener wondering: if an angel falls, can the angel rise up or are the wings forever gone? 

Are we redeemable or are we damned from the beginning? 

— Note by the composer