Wind Symphony Concert at Dublin Jerome High School

February 11, 2020

Russel C. Mikkelson, conductor
Christopher D. Hoch, guest conductor
Daniel Farr, guest conductor

7:30 p.m.  •  Tuesday, Feb. 11

8300 Hyland-Croy Rd  •  Columbus 43016

PROGRAM

Royce Hall Suite

Healy Willan (1880–1968)

1.    Prelude and Fugue
2.    Menuet
3.    Rondo

Daniel Farr, guest conductor

Born in 1880 in London, England, composer, organist and teacher Healey Willan is known across North America for his choral and organ works. After immigrating to Canada, Willan held administrative and professorial positions at the Toronto Conservatory and the University of Toronto. He was also the organist of St. Paul’s Bloor Street United Church, music director of the Hart House Theatre, and precentor at St. Mary Magdalene. Royce Hall Suite (1949) is a three-movement work which closely imitates the style of Baroque and Classical period musical forms. The title refers its concert auditorium namesake at the University of California at Los Angeles where the premiere took place in May 1949. Willan dedicated the work to Patton McNaughton, director of the UCLA band. The Canadian radio premiere occurred in August 1952 under the baton of Howard Cable. William Teague was instrumental in editing and scoring the work for concert band.

Of Our New Day Begun

Omar Thomas (b. 1984)

“Of Our New Day Begun” was written to honor nine beautiful souls who lost their lives to a callous act of hatred and domestic terrorism on the evening of June 17, 2015 while worshipping in their beloved sanctuary, the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (affectionately referred to as “Mother Emanuel”) in Charleston, South Carolina. My greatest challenge in creating this work was walking the line between reverence for the victims and their families, and honoring my strong, bitter feelings towards both the perpetrator and the segments of our society that continue to create people like him. I realized that the most powerful musical expression I could offer incorporated elements from both sides of that line — embracing my pain and anger while being moved by the displays of grace and forgiveness demonstrated by the victims’ families.

Historically, black Americans have, in great number, turned to the church to find refuge and grounding in the most trying of times. Thus, the musical themes and ideas for “Of Our New Day Begun” are rooted in the Black American church tradition. The piece is anchored by James and John Johnson’s time-honored song, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (known endearingly as the “Negro National Anthem”), and peppered with blues harmonies and melodies. Singing, stomping and clapping are also prominent features of this work, as they have always been a mainstay of black music traditions, and the inclusion of the tambourine in these sections is a direct nod to black worship services.

“Of Our New Day Begun” begins with a unison statement of a melodic cell from “Lift Every Voice….” before suddenly giving way to ghostly, bluesy chords in the horns and bassoons. This section moves to a dolorous and bitter dirge presentation of the anthem in irregularly shifting 12/8 and 6/8 meter, which grows in intensity as it offers fleeting glimmers of hope and relief answered by cries of blues-inspired licks. A maddening, ostinato-driven section representing a frustration and weariness that words cannot, grows into a group singing of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” fueled by the stomping and clapping reminiscent of the black church.

In the latter half of the piece the music turns hopeful, settling into 9/8 time and modulating up a step during its ascent to a glorious statement of the final lines of “Lift Every Voice….” in 4/4, honoring the powerful display of humanity set forth by the families of the victims. There is a long and emotional decrescendo that lands on a pensive and cathartic gospel-inspired hymnsong. Returning to 9/8 time, the piece comes to rest on a unison F that grows from a very distant hum to a thunderous roar, driven forward by march-like stomping to represent the ceaseless marching of black Americans towards equality.

The consortium assembled to create this work is led by Dr. Gary Schallert and the Western Kentucky University Wind Ensemble. — Note by the composer

Moth

Viet Cuong (b. 1990)

Christopher D. Hoch, guest conductor

The “moth to the flame” narrative is a familiar one. We have all seen moths in the glow of flames or stadium lights. Scientists call this phenomenon “phototaxis,” but I prefer to think of this attraction in much more romantic terms. The dusty moth — though destined to live in shadow — has an insatiable craving for the brightness of day. Drab but elegant, nervous but swift, his taste for the glow of the flame or the filament is dire. Perhaps he dances in the light because it holds the promise that he might be as beautiful as his favored kin, the butterfly. For only there, in its ecstatic warmth, may he spend the last of his fleeting life, and believe himself to be.

Moth seeks inspiration from the dualities between light and dark, beautiful and grotesque, reality and fantasy, and the ultimate decision to sacrifice sensibility for grace. — Note by the composer

A Child's Garden of Dreams

David Maslanka (1943–2017)

1.    There is a desert on the moon where the dreamer sinks so deeply into the ground that she reaches hell.
2.    A drunken woman falls into the water and comes out renewed and sober.
3.    A horde of small animals frightens the dreamer. The animals increase to a tremendous size, and one of them devours the little girl.
4.    A drop of water is seen as it appears when looked at through a microscope. The girl sees that the drop is full of tree branches. This portrays the origin of the world.
5.    An ascent into heaven where pagan dances are being celebrated; and a descent into hell where angels are doing good deeds.

When Northwestern University Symphonic Wind Ensemble director John Paynter and his wife Marietta approached Maslanka in 1981 to commission a large-scale work for winds, they made only one request: they wanted the wind equivalent of Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra. The composer, sharing the appreciation and awe for the same work, saw this as a high challenge. Around this time, Maslanka had begun reading Man and His Symbols by Carl Jung. In the book, he came across the discussion of a collection of twelve extraordinary dreams of an eight-year-old girl. The composer was instantly struck by the possibility of using them musically. This series of twelve incomprehensible dreams was handwritten by the young girl and given to her father as a Christmas gift when she was ten. The short stories were child-like, each beginning with “Once upon a time,” but each contained vivid images with tones of imminent tragedy. Reflecting on the dreams, Jung remarks that they “open up a new and rather terrifying aspect of life and death. One would expect to find such images in an aging person who looks back upon life, rather than to be given them by a child. Their atmosphere recalls the old Roman saying, ‘Life is a short dream,’ rather than the joy and exuberance of its springtime. Experience shows that the unknown approach of death casts an ‘adumbratio’ (anticipatory shadow) over the life and dreams of the victim.” The young girl died of an infectious disease a year later. When asked how he had finally chosen which of the five dreams from the original twelve to capture in sound, Maslanka responded:

I typed all twelve dreams on a single sheet of paper, put the paper on the piano in front of me, and started finding musical ideas in bits and pieces as I read each dream. It was a process of letting them “light up” one at a time. The ones that came forward the strongest got used in the piece... This process involved meditation. With each dream, I tried to imagine a real picture, to put myself in that picture and to allow the emotions and insights of that experience to come through my own system... The music is representative of the dream, though it does not describe it in a literal sense. I tried to create a parallel musical universe by sinking as deeply as possible into my unconscious to unite the dream and the musical imagery. I believe that there is a connection in one’s unconscious where the music and the dream become one.

The resulting work’s title, A Child’s Garden of Dreams, is a variation on the title of a collection of poetry by Robert Louis Stevenson, “A Child’s Garden of Verses.” The titles of the five movements come directly from the dreamer.

The Ohio State University Wind Symphony

Russel C. Mikkelson, conductor

Spring 2020

PICCOLO
Jiwoon Choi
Daniel Zipin

FLUTE
Peyton Sandri *
Alex Goad
Daniel Zipin
Jiwoon Choi
Grace Forrai
Yuanzhu Chen
Alison Addie

OBOE
Sam Zelnik *
Esther Krumm
Jade Robertson

ENGLISH HORN
Jade Robertson

BASSOON
Jesse Schartz *
Nate Centa
Dustin Gourley
Eric Tyler Barga

CONTRABASSOON
Dustin Gourley

Eb CLARINET
Vanessa Klassen

CLARINET
Alyssa Powell *
Erin Dowler
Noah Wise
Logan Howe
Nathan Murta
Vanessa Klassen
Michael Blaha
Gabrielle Valladares
William Erickson

BASS CLARINET
Austin Suarez

CONTRABASS CLARINET
William Erickson

ALTO SAXOPHONE
Francesca Wantuch *
Kevin Ruppert
Brent Levine

TENOR SAXOPHONE
Lindsay Smithson

BARITONE SAXOPHONE
Mark Wallace

HORN
Benjamin Hottensmith *
Trevor Healy
Anna Dorey
Amanda Midkiff
Greg Eberwine

TRUMPET
Brooklynn Howell *
Alex Sanso
Luke Bingham
Julia Moxley
Vanessa Rivera
Kaity Catalfina

TROMBONE
Melody Harrell *
Jake Pauley
Vijay Rings

BASS TROMBONE
Zach Irwin

EUPHONIUM
Daniel Taylor *
Gareth Whelan
Sean O’Brien

TUBA
Jocelyn Smallwood *
Bradley Krak
Jake Blevins

PERCUSSION
Amelia DuPlain *
Clay Schneider
Justin Monroe
Joseph Spearman
Alex Brudnicki
Michael Mayer

DOUBLE BASS
Dallas Carpenter

PIANO
Changyue Liu

HARP
Nathan Hay

ELECTRIC ORGAN
Tracy Qian

* principal

Band Department Personnel