Symphonic Band and University Band

Friday, Nov. 22, 2019

7:30 p.m.

Mershon Auditorium
1871 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43210
 

PROGRAM

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY BAND

Brent Levine (DMA), conductor
Daniel Farr (DMA), guest conductor
TJ Mack (MM), guest conductor
James Stephenson, guest composer
 

In the Shadow of Your Mountain (2017)

Natalie Moller (b. 1990)

A storyteller at heart, composer Natalie Moller invites listeners on a musical journey inspired by prose, art and nature. Her passion for collaboration sparks her exploration into the intersections of music, theatre, dance, video games and film.

Natalie received her Master of Music in composition from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Music in composition from the University of Redlands. Her principal teachers included Kristin Kuster and Anthony Suter. She currently resides in the greater Los Angeles area in California, and her scores are available from Fama Nova Publishing.

Drawing on both contemporary classical language and video game score idioms, In the Shadow of Your Mountain confronts the struggle of one’s internalized doubts and expectations. The piece was commissioned by Dr. Samuel Andress and the Los Osos High School Wind Ensemble in 2017.

Serenade for Wind Band (1965)

Derek Bourgeois (1941–2017)

    TJ Mack, conductor

Derek David Bourgeois was a versatile and prolific composer whose related capabilities included playing tuba, conducting, lecturing, administering music programs, and completing a doctorate at Cambridge University. His numerous compositions for wind and brass bands have been described as “never easy to play and never difficult to appreciate and enjoy.”

Serenade for Wind Band, like Ravel’s Bolero, is based on an infectious tune which grows louder as more instruments are added. Bourgeois wrote the work for his own wedding postlude (1965) and arranged it for small orchestra (1968), brass band (1976) and concert band (1980). Not wishing to allow the wedding guests the luxury of exiting in an orderly two-step pace, he changed the meter to 11/8 in one section and to 13/8 near the middle of the work.

The Seal Lullaby (2008)

Eric Whitacre (b. 1970)

    Daniel Farr, conductor

Grammy® Award-winning composer and conductor Eric Whitacre is among today’s most popular musicians. His works have been programmed worldwide by millions of amateur and professional performers, while his ground-breaking Virtual Choirs have united singers from over 120 different countries. Eric, a graduate of the prestigious Juilliard School of Music, is presently artist-in-residence with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, following five years as composer-in-residence at the University of Cambridge, UK.

Whitacre on The Seal Lullaby:

“One day I received a call from a major film studio. They wanted to know if I might be interested in writing music for an animated feature based on Kipling’s The White Seal. I was incredibly excited, said yes, and took the meeting. The White Seal is a beautiful story, classic Kipling, dark and rich and not at all condescending to kids. Best of all, Kipling begins his tale with the mother seal singing softly to her young pup. The opening poem is called 'The Seal Lullaby.' I was struck so deeply by those first beautiful words, and a simple, sweet Disney-esque song just came gushing out of me. I wrote it down as quickly as I could, had my wife record it while I accompanied her at the piano, and then dropped it off at the film studio. I didn’t hear anything from them for weeks and weeks, and I began to despair. Did they hate it? Was it too melodically complex? Did they even listen to it? Finally, I called them, begging to know the reason that they had rejected my tender little song. ‘Oh,’ said the exec, ‘we decided to make Kung Fu Panda instead.’ So I didn’t do anything with it, just sang it to my baby son every night to get him to go to sleep (success rate: less than 50%). A few years later the Towne Singers graciously commissioned this arrangement of it. I’m grateful to them for giving it a new life. And I’m especially grateful to Stephen Schwartz, to whom the piece is dedicated. His friendship and invaluable tutelage have meant more to me than I could ever tell him.”

Second Thoughts (2014)    

James M. Stephenson (b. 1969)

Leading American orchestras, instrumentalists and wind ensembles around the world have performed the music of Chicago-based composer James M. Stephenson, both to critical acclaim and the delight of audiences. The Boston Herald raved about “straightforward, unabashedly beautiful sounds,” suggesting “Stephenson deserves to be heard again and again!” A formal sense of melody and tonality characterize his music, each embedded in a contemporary soundscape. These qualities — coupled with the composer’s keen ability to write to each occasion — have led to a steady stream of commissions and ongoing projects.

Notes from the composer:

"Second Thoughts is mainly a lyrical and reflective piece, as if the author (not this author) is looking back and perhaps having second thoughts about something from their past. There are two main themes. Oftentimes, the first theme is accompanied by the second theme, or snippets therof.

Many thanks to Rich Paluch and the Mannheim Middle School Educational Foundation for the commission of this work. I am always so very thankful to those who believe in the continuing of new music by supporting living composers, especially when it is music to be played by young musicians."

Different Voices (2002)

Rick Kirby (b. 1945)

I.   The Spoken (Dialogues)
II.  Whispers
III. The Voices of Song

Rick Kirby was born in Boston, Massachusetts, grew up and received his music education from the University of New Hampshire. After moving to Wisconsin in 1974, he taught at several high schools and universities where his performance groups received many awards and honors. His compositions and arrangements have been performed by middle school, high school, and college groups throughout the Unites States. Recently retired from the teaching profession, Kirby is presently devoting his time to composing accessible music for school bands, and acting as a clinician and guest conductor.

Each movement of this composition represents several of the different manners in which the human voice produces sound and becomes a vehicle of communication — hence the title Different Voices. Except for the whispering in the second movement, the piece does not attempt to simulate the actual sound of the human voice, but rather attempts to depict the spirit by which that sound is produced.

The first movement, entitled “The Spoken – Dialogues,” portrays a conversation between several groups represented by the different sections of the band. The second movement, “Whispers,” begins very quietly, swells to a climactic level and concludes with the peacefulness of the beginning. “Voices of Song,” the final movement, is simply a joyous celebration of the ability of the world’s oldest musical instrument — the human voice — to sing.

— University Band notes compiled by Brent Levine

 

SYMPHONIC BAND

OHIO STATE SYMPHONIC BAND PRESENTS “IN HONOR”
Scott A. Jones, conductor
Daniel Farr (DMA), guest conductor
Michael Rene Torres, guest soloist
James Stephenson, guest composer
 

WELCOME

Welcome to the second performance of the 2019–20 academic year by the musicians of The Ohio State University Symphonic Band. We are delighted to present this program in Mershon Auditorium, a venue well suited for this evening’s performance. In its more than 60-year history, Mershon has hosted some of the world’s finest performing artists including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Martha Graham Dance Company, and Louis Armstrong, among others. We are grateful for your presence this evening in this storied performance space at Ohio State.

This evening’s performance is entitled “In Honor,” a program that honors the relationship between people and music. The repertoire honors performing artists, teachers, composers, conductors, and a collection of nine extraordinary people at the center of a horrible tragedy. We hope that you find the repertoire engaging and the performances meaningful.

The musicians of Symphonic Band are particularly honored to have two guests with us this evening. Dr. Michael Rene Torres is our lecturer of saxophone in the School of Music. In addition to his exceptional work on behalf of the saxophone students at Ohio State, Dr. Torres maintains an active schedule as a freelance performer, composer and proponent of new music in Columbus. Dr. Torres holds two degrees from Ohio State, so we are all the more honored to feature one of “our own” as he performs this evening.

Also in attendance is composer James Stephenson, who resides in Chicago where he is a full-time internationally renowned composer. Mr. Stephenson has been on our campus since Wednesday evening and has interacted with students in a variety of settings. We present his composition “there are no words” this evening, a work that honors the nine victims of the June 2015 church shooting in Charleston, SC. The composition that has touched many listeners during its relatively brief existence, and we hope that you find it to be both meaningful and moving. We are honored to have Mr. Stephenson with us this evening.

The musicians of Symphonic Band express gratitude to the Council on Student Affairs for providing a programming grant to enable James Stephenson to be with us this evening. The CSA Programming Funds enable Registered Student Organizations on our campus to create and engage meaningful events for students. You are all cordially invited to a reception in the lobby following the concert to meet Mr. Stephenson, and to share in the rich spirit of community that pervades the concert.

On behalf of the entire School of Music, best wishes for a meaningful Thanksgiving holiday next week.

Scott A. Jones, PhD
Associate Professor

 

Silver Light! (2019)

Benjamin Yeo (b. 1985)    

    Consortium Premiere Performance

Singaporean-born composer Benjamin Yeo is a faculty member at the Saint Anthony Secondary School in Singapore, where he conducts the Military Band. His compositions have been performed internationally, including by ensembles at prestigious conferences in the United States.

Sliver Light! was commissioned by a consortium of universities and individuals to honor the career of Dr. Richard Mayne upon his retirement in May 2019 from the University of Northern Colorado (UNC). Dr. Mayne served on the faculty at UNC for 27 years following completion of a PhD in Music Education from Ohio State. The composition is appropriately celebratory in nature, and includes use of “Where the Columbines Grow,” the official state song of Colorado.

Bali (2005)

Michael Colgrass (1932–2019)

Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award-winning composer Michael Colgrass passed away this summer after a remarkable and impactful career as a musician and composer. Son of Italian immigrants, Colgrass took up the drums at age 10, and started his first dance band at age 11. His prowess as a percussionist would eventually earn him a spot in the pit orchestra for the opening run of West Side Story on Broadway. He held degrees in percussion performance and composition from the University of Illinois, and later went on to study composition with Darius Milhaud among others. His creative compositional voice earned commissions from many of the world’s finest ensembles, including the Chicago Symphony and the New York Philharmonic.

In the words of the composer, “Bali for wind ensemble was inspired by my two summers living in Ubud, the arts-and-crafts center of Bali. The very first sound I head every morning was a gamelan instrument playing the five-note scale unique to that region of the island. The Balinese are warm, playful and artistically minded people, all of whom play instruments and dance […]. Creativity is such a basic part of their life that they don’t even have a word for it, because it is simply taken for granted as the basis for a spiritual life.”

Let My Love Be Heard (2014/2018)

Jake Runestad (b. 1986)

Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as “one of the best of the younger American composers,” composer Jake Runestad is a full-time composer residing in Minneapolis. He holds a master’s degree in composition from the Peabody Conservatory where he studied with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts. Known primarily for his choral compositions, Runestad has received commissions and performances from leading ensembles and organizations such as Washington National Opera, VOCES8, the Swedish Radio Symphony, the Netherlands Radio Choir, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, among others.

Let My Love Be Heard was originally commissioned as a choral composition, and later transcribed for wind band by the composer. The choral composition took on an unexpected, but significant meaning when recorded by the Cal State Long Beach choir following a memorial vigil for Nohemi Gonzalez, a Cal State student killed in the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015. The text for the composition is a poem by Alfred Noyes, entitled "A Prayer":

Angels, where you soar
    Up to God’s own light,
Take my own lost bird
    On your hearts tonight;
And as grief once more
    Mounts to heaven and sings,
Let my love be heard
    Whispering in your wings.

Diversion for Alto Saxophone and Concert Band (1943/2015)

Bernhard Heiden (1910–2000), ed. Rogers

    Michael Rene Torres, saxophone

German-born composer Bernhard Heiden became interested in composition at age 5 and composed his first set of pieces the following year. Formal studies in music began in 1929 at the Hochschule for Musik in Berlin where he studied composition with Paul Hindemith, whom he would regard as his principal teacher. Heiden emigrated to the United States in 1935 and became a naturalized US citizen in 1941. He served as a musician in the United States Army during WW II and later went on to establish a significant composition program at Indiana University (IU) where he taught for 35 years. During his memorial service at IU, it was remarked that Heiden “… is remembered with devotion by his many students and colleagues, who will recall not only the high standards of his teaching and his deep knowledge of the craft of composition, but also his affection, his concern for their well-being and careers …”.

Diversion was composed during Heiden’s service in the US Army, and has become a staple of 20th century solo saxophone repertoire. The work is cast in three continuous sections, the last of which includes a cadenza for the soloist before an exciting coda brings the composition to a close. Heiden’s tonal language reflects the influence of his study with Hindemith, but his melodic material is unmistakably his own — elegant, poised and approachable.

Essay for Band (1958)

Roger Dickerson (b. 1934)

African American composer Roger Dickerson was born in New Orleans, LA — a place he has called home for most of his life. He holds degrees from Dillard University (LA) and Indiana University, where he completed a master’s degree in composition under the direction of Bernhard Heiden. Recipient of numerous awards as a composer — including two nominations for the Pulitzer Prize in Music — Dickerson has also been recognized for his contributions as a teacher. Dickerson was a member of the faculty at Xavier University, Dillard University and Southern University of New Orleans.

Essay for Band was composed during a period of time while Dickerson was serving in the United States Army at Fort Chaffee, AR. The composition is in three large sections, the first and third of which are similar in spirit. After a relatively brief introduction, the primary theme of the composition is first stated by the upper woodwinds. Accompanying material is varied as the theme is passed to other sections of the ensemble. The contrasting middle section of the work features extended lyrical solo passages supported by sparse accompanying voices. The work comes to an enthusiastic close following the return of the primary theme in augmentation.

there are no words (2016)

James Stephenson (b. 1969)

Chicago-based composer James Stephenson has been commissioned by some of the finest professional ensembles of our day, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the St. Louis Symphony. Largely self-taught as a composer, Stephenson left work as a musician with the Naples (FL) Philharmonic Orchestra in 2007 to pursue composition full-time. Since that time, his compositions have been performed around the world.

Originally scored for mixed chamber ensemble, there are no words was composed to honor the victims of the June 17, 2015 mass shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC. A composition in six continuous sections, the work begins with “the terrible action itself” and moves through shock and confusion, terrible sadness, anger, and ultimately, to forgiveness.

The nine victims of the shooting are honored in many ways throughout the composition. Each is represented by a musical pitch early in the composition, which return in varying manifestations throughout the composition. Perhaps the greatest gesture on the part of the composer, however, is the final theme of the work which is repeated nine times and is a setting of the first name of each of the nine:

 

 

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ROSTERS

University Band

Brent Levine (DMA), conductor
Daniel Farr (DMA), guest conductor
TJ Mack (MM), guest conductor

Musicians are listed alphabetically by section.

FLUTE
Madelyn Bates
Akshara Devanathan
Blythe Dumerer
Rita Grell
Palina Hornaya
Alexia Moore
Lauren Nemec
Jeniffer Park
Christina Richter
Brieanna Riffle
Sophia Ruff
Sloan Shingleton
Rosie Spivak
Jocelyn Treneff
Victoria Vanness
Carrie White
Sarah Wood
Anna Wysmierski

OBOE
Anthony Hager
Timothy Obaob

BASSOON
Samantha Jones
Hayden Riley

CLARINET
Anna Baker
Grant Brooks
Jack Feds
Caitlin Jesenovec
Emily Killian
Lena Koskinen
Rachel Pizzuco
Marissa Polito
Jamie Reed
Aaron Reilman
Courtney Shepler
Jaclyn Swigris
Kayla Thomas
Adam Verbsky

BASS CLARINET
Jordan Gulley
Nick Hann

ALTO SAXOPHONE
Drew Achinger
Diana Brooks
Nicholas Dorer
Caroline Ferro
Caleb Fine
David Prexta
Ian Torres
Shatira Woods
Haozhe Zhao

TENOR SAXOPHONE
Daniel Maibaum
Megan Wentzel
Kaelyn Willingham

BARITONE SAXOPHONE
Samir Atou

TRUMPET
Daniel Atwater
Emily Barber
Megan Barnes
Günther Beall
Jason Burlison
Noah Cothern
Dylan Daugherty
Abby David
Andrew Duffy
Asha Edmondson
Jacob Haines
Noah Hollyfield
Rishee Jayasimha
Hyun-woong Kim
Kai Lendvay
Grace Lukich
Joshua Silver
Rion Tipton

HORN
Maren Beall
Anessa DeMers
Noah Feingold
Nik Henderson
Jillian Horan
Clark Hou
Maycee Hurd
MacKenzie Kazin
Jessica Kinney
Emma Koors
Spencer Litzenberger
Mackenzie Scott
Eammon Sears
Serina Smith
Jamal Taylor
Lydia Unklesbay
Hayden Wahoff

TROMBONE
Dj Gullatte
Ethan Hardy
Noah Hufnagel
Jeremy Kendle
Noah Kreuz
Andrew Kueterman
Johnnie Zappitelli

EUPHONIUM
Jadon Bartman
Justin Boes
John Christman
Joseph Elisar
Brennan Finley
Carmen Greiner
Bryan Nevarez
Alayah Robinson
Josie Sull
Bradley Sutton
Matthew Swartz

TUBA
Adriana Derksen
Alex Gonia
Aaron King
Thomas Pappas
Aaron Ruotolo

PERCUSSION
Tom Clay
Vivian Corey
Michael Ferrone
Erin Jackson
Zach Jones
Matthew Lastovka
Samuel Offenbecher
Nicholas O’Toole
Kaitlin Price
Joseph Spinelli
Brandon Tondra

 

The Ohio State University Symphonic Band

Scott A. Jones, conductor

AUTUMN 2019

Musicians are listed alphabetically by section.

PICCOLO
Alexandria Biondo
Noah Breitenbecher

FLUTE
Alexandria Biondo ∆
Noah Breitenbecher
Liliana Carpenter
Vivian Chan
Irene Guggenheim-Triana +
Allison Kozman
Maggie McCarter

OBOE
Sarah Kline ∆
Jade Robertson + §
Jerrin Wofford

BASSOON
Adrian Oliver
Adam Steere +
Dylan Tharp ∆
Maxx Zywicka

CONTRABASSOON
Adam Steere

E-flat CLARINET
Diana Sari

CLARINET
Madison Brickner
Aly Farouk
Johnson Gao ∆
Danny Hong
Lyndi Knox +
Noah Krumme §
Fiona Lin
Marco Rojas
Diana Sari
Christina Sieger

BASS CLARINET
Thomas Zhang

ALTO SAXOPHONE
Michael Hofstetter
Courtney Larkin +
Alex Lowe ∆
Samantha Schafer

TENOR SAXOPHONE
Mollie Hess

BARITONE SAXOPHONE
Colin Howell    

TRUMPET
Elijah Blanton
Ruth Bonnice
Jenna Chance
Carson Coldren
Emma Koors
Julia Moxley ∆
Will Patton +
Paul Renzi
Jared Sweeney
Spencer Withnell

HORN
Jamey Boezi
Emily Lay
Matthew Mikulich + ∆
Brian Walsh

TROMBONE
Jacob Chestnut +
Hikari Nawa
Jay Sandlin ∆

BASS TROMBONE
Christopher McGhee

EUPHONIUM
Davis Aho
Carter Bivens + ∆
Katherine Reed
Gareth Whelan

TUBA
Ryan Burdick
Nick Hann + ∆
Daniel Ramirez-Sanchez
Cameron Reinbolt

PERCUSSION
Nick Berkebile *
Philip Betts
Marco Ciclet *
Tristan Collins
Sean Demko *
Lucas Fox
Michael Mayer §
Sarah Nichols + ∆
Mic Poeppelmeier
Justin Reeder *
Krista Staten §
Casey Rupright *
Erin Rybinski *

DOUBLE BASS
Jimmy Perera ∆

PIANO
Vivian Chan

∆  principal player
+  section leader
#  student librarian
§  board member
*  assisting musician

 

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Band Department Personnel