THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO COLLEGE OF LIBERAL AND FINE ARTS DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC
The University of Texas at San Antonio Wind Ensemble Ron Ellis Conductor
PROGRAM: Bite the Bullet (2020)
Jorge Machain (b. 1993)
Polka and Fugue from “Schwanda, the Bagpiper” (1928/1961)
Jaromir Weinberger (1896-1967) Trans. Glenn Bainum(1888-1974)
Senior Recognition (Brief Interval)
Wine-Dark Sea, Symphony for Band (2014) 1. Hubris 2. Immortal Thread, So Weak 3. The Attentions of Souls
Wednesday, April 20th, 2022 7:30 pm UTSA Music Recital Hall
John Mackey (b. 1973)
University of Texas at San Antonio Wind Ensemble Flute / Piccolo Lisette Aguilar Esmeralda Acosta Carlos Cruz Jordan Rodriguez Hayley Walkingstick Oboe Daniel Aguilar Julian Rivera Bassoon James King Jared Worman Clarinet Jadee Dovalina Tyler Ellis Joel Hernandez Zayah Hough Angela Liendo Brenda Reynoso Bass Clarinet Darion Campbell Alto Saxophone Makenzi Costa Daniel Soria Tenor Saxophone Matthew Narvaez Baritone Saxophone Sam Bowman Horn Daniel Campa Macy Harmison Noe Loera Laura Navarette Band Staff Carlos Cruz - Music Librarian Jaydee Dovalina - Band Manager
Trumpet Julian Arrieta Hector Garcia (G) Jason Grant Caleb McDonald Celestino Rodriguez Phillip Scheidt Regina Seeman John Vasquez Trombone Eva Ayala Jayland Brown (G) Mica Rosenstein Bass Trombone William Regalis Euphonium Andrew Granado Alexis Ortiz Tuba Aashish Mavani Alejandro Palacios Percussion Zachary Cook Joaquin Guzman Angelina Martinez Symeon May Jacob Navarijo Matthew Settles Charles Settles Guest Musicians Nathan Sharplin – Harp Marcelino Guerro - Double Bass Dr. Tracey Cowden – Piano Jaime Viejo – Bassoon Lirio Gomez – Bass Clarinet Nicolas Zars – Contrabass Clarinet Dr. Melanie Randall Stewart - Organ Dr. Oswaldo Zapata and Members of the UTSA Trumpet Studio Graduate Assistants Jayland Brown Hector Garcia
Personnel roster is listed alphabetically to emphasize the important contribution made by each musician.
Conductor Ron Ellis serves as Director of Bands and Associate Professor of Music at The University of Texas at San Antonio. Prof Ellis conducts the UTSA Wind Ensemble, the UTSA Symphonic Band, The UTSA University Band, and the UTSA Athletic Bands. His responsibilities also include teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in conducting, wind literature, and music education. A nationally recognized guest conductor, adjudicator, and composer/arranger, his works for concert band, orchestra and choir are performed by university, community, high school and professional wind bands as well as in Carnegie Hall. He also currently serves as a music director for Walt Disney Attractions Entertainment in Orlando where he has directed the Toy Soldiers and the Student Musician Program since 1993. He is a member of the College Band Directors National Association, Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Bandmasters Association, Florida Music Educators Association, Florida Bandmasters Association, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Music Fraternity. He is also an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi, Tau Beta Sigma, and Pi Kappa Lambda. Prof. Ellis received his Bachelor of Arts in Trombone Performance from the University of Central Florida and a Master of Music in Wind and Orchestral Conducting from the University of South Florida where he was a conducting student of William Wiedrich.
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Acknowledgements Special thanks to the following for their ongoing support and dedication to the UTSA Bands: Dr. Tracy Cowden, Chair, Department of Music Dr. Stacey Davis, Associate Chair, Department of Music Naomy Ybarra, Senior Administrative Associate Steven Hill, Administrative Associate Wesley Penix, Events Manager Rebekah Alegria, Jason Guzman, and Micah Rosenstein, Marketing and Publicity Dr. John Zarco, Director of Instrumental Ensembles Mr. Donald Marchand, Music Program Specialist, UTSA Bands Hector Garcia and Jayland Brown, UTSA Bands Graduate Assistants Prof. Sherry Rubins and Prof. Paul Millette, Percussion Area Faculty Dr. Rachel Woolf and Dr. Oswaldo Zapata, Woodwind and Brass Area Coordinators Dr. Kasandra Keeling and Prof. Christine Debus, Keyboard Area Coordinators Prof. Troy Peters, Director of Orchestras Dr. Yoojin Muhn, Director of Choral Activities UTSA Department of Music Faculty Carlos Cruz, Department of Music Librarian UTSA Bands Managers Mu Tau Chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi Iota Tau Chapter of Tau Beta Sigma
Upcoming Events Thu. April 21, 7:30p Fri. April 22, 5:00p Fri. April 22, 7:30p Sat. April 23, 5:00p Sat. April 23, 7:30p Sun. April 24, 3:00p
UTSA University Chorus Student Recital: Jadee Dovalina, Clarinet Student Recital: Juliana Woodlee, voice Composition Studio Recital Student Recital: Christian Cortez, percussion UTSA University Band
All events are in the UTSA Recital Hall and are free admission unless otherwise indicated.
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Bands at the University of Texas at San Antonio ALL UTSA STUDENTS can make music with us! UTSA “Spirit of San Antonio” Marching Band The 300-member “Spirit of San Antonio” Marching Band is open to all UTSA students, regardless of major. Like all college bands, the group is comprised of students of various performance backgrounds. The “Spirit of San Antonio” will perform a standard pre-game show, 4-5 different halftime shows, stand tunes, and maintain UTSA traditions, while at the same time promoting a positive learning and social environment for its members. College bands strive towards being fun and spirited organizations while still achieving a quality of performance representative of the image of the university. UTSA Wind Ensemble The UTSA Wind Ensemble is comprised of UTSA Students who have achieved an extreme high level of musicianship and who perform some of the most challenging music composed for wind band. Membership in this ensemble is open to all UTSA Students, regardless of major, who audition at the beginning of each semester. The UTSA Wind Ensemble maintains a vigorous performance schedule of three demanding concerts each semester as well as an ensemble tour when schedule and budget permits. UTSA Symphonic Band The UTSA Symphonic Band is made up of 45-55 outstanding wind players who perform a repertoire chosen from a variety of historical periods and for ensembles of various sizes. While the group occasionally presents pieces composed for smaller groups, much of its time is spent in the study and performance of works from the standard symphonic band repertoire. Membership is open to all students at the university who audition at the beginning of each semester.
UTSA University Band The UTSA University Band performs a wide variety of works from different composers and arrangers, in addition to maintaining an active three-concert schedule each semester. There is no formal audition required to participate; students must be able to read music and play a concert band instrument. Membership in the ensemble includes students from almost every discipline on campus. We invite all students interested in performing in this ensemble to come out and join us at the beginning of each semester!
Program Notes Compiled and Edited by Ron Ellis
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Bite the Bullet – Jorge Machain Jorge Machain is a Mexican-American composer and performer. Jorge graduated from the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) with a bachelor's of music in jazz composition and a master's of music in jazz composition. He is an active musician in the Las Vegas scene, having played such shows as Showstoppers at the Wynn, Zombie Burlesque at Planet Hollywood, Georgia On My Mind at the Venetian Hotel, to name a few. In addition to performing, Machain composes for both classical and jazz ensembles. He has won multiple DownBeat awards for his arrangements, and was a finalist in the 2018 NBA Revelli Competition for his piece Bite the Bullet, commissioned by Thomas Leslie, director of bands at UNLV, finalist of the Morton Gould Young Composer Competition for 2019, and winner of the 2019 NBA Young Composers Jazz Composition Contest for his original composition Por Ahora. Upcoming [2020] premieres include a drumset concerto written for Bernie Dresel, commissioned by Thomas Leslie, and a trombone solo commissioned by Joseph Alessi, principal trombonist of the New York Philharmonic. Bite the Bullet (2018) was commissioned for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Wind Orchestra by Thomas Leslie, director of bands, and was premiered by that ensemble in Artemus W. Ham Hall on October 4, 2018. The title comes from a work by the Venetian painter Carlo Marchiori. The painting [Biting the Bullets] depicts two Pulcinelli, Venetian clowns dressed as bakers. In the painting, these Pulcinelli shoot at one another with guns, bullets meeting in the middle, creating a white-orange-pink cloudburst. I was in awe of the vibrant colored landscape and the Pulcinelli, providing the creative impetus for this work. In Bite the Bullet, I portray the intensity of the painting and use my own sonic color scheme through orchestration and instrumental color. You will hear the intensity of the brass and percussion sections portraying the gunshots by the Pulcinelli with the woodwind flourishes emulating the painter's brush strokes. - Program Note by composer ◆
Polka and Fugue from “Schwanda, the Bagpiper” – Jaramir Weinberger Jaromír Weinberger was a Czech-American composer. Although born in Prague, he spent his boyhood years on the farm of his grandparents, where he first heard the folk songs and dances of his native land. Later, his most successful works were patterned after the folk music of his childhood. He became famous primarily for one opera; he remains famous for two operatic excerpts. Weinberger was an unusually gifted child who played the piano well at seven and had a composition published at 11. In his youth he attended the Prague Conservatory and studied piano with Jaromír Kricka,
Václav Talich, Rudel Karel, and others. He received composition instruction from Vitezslav Novak at the Prague Conservatory and from Max Reger in Leipzig (1915). In 1922 he went to the United States for a year and taught composition at the Ithaca Conservatory in New York. During a visit to Cleveland to see his boyhood friend, the artist Richard Rychtarik, he wrote a series of preludes and fugues for Mrs. Rychtarik, one of which reappeared later as the famous fugue in his opera Schwanda the Bagpiper. Weinberger returned to Czechoslovakia in 1923 and served as operatic director at the Slovak National Theater in Bratislava (1923-1924), as well as director of the school of music in Eger. About that time he composed his first opera, Kocourkov, which made a very positive impression on Pietro Mascagni, who attended the premiere. As Weinberger’s opportunities and responsibilities as a composer increased, he gave up his administrative and teaching positions and returned to Prague to write music full time. In 1939 he left Czechoslovakia to escape persecution by the Nazis. He first went to Paris and then to England before returning to the U.S. He lived in New York for a time, became an American citizen, and made a final move to St. Petersburg, Florida. Because of the lack of success with his later concert works, Weinberger turned to photography and to writing religious music. He died from an overdose of sedative drugs in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1967. Weinberger’s student compositions were influenced by the music of the French impressionists. He destroyed most of the manuscripts later when he began to feel an overpowering attraction for the music of his own land. His early compositions included the overture Puppet—Marionette—Show (written at 17), his first opera, Kocourkov, and two violin/piano pieces, Cowboy’s Christmas and Banjos (inspired by his first stay in the US). In 1927 his opera Svanda dudák - Schwanda the Bagpiper received an uninspired reaction at its Prague premiere but a few months later was presented in Breslau, Germany, to an enthusiastic audience, and it “swept across musical Europe like a typhoon.” Weinberger wrote three more significant operas (The Beloved Voice, The Outcasts of Poker Flat, and WaIlenstein) and four operettas in the 1930s, but none attained the fame of Schwanda. Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree, his most successful orchestra work, as well as other scores for orchestra, chorus, piano, and solo voice were composed after his move to America in 1939. In his later scores he attempted to replace his Czech style with “universal” American music. Weinberger’s original band compositions include Afternoon in the Village (1951), Homage to the Pioneers March (1940), Mississippi Rhapsody (1940—dedicated to and premiered by the Goldman Band), and Prelude to the Festival. Weinberger began seriously working on the opera Schwanda the Bagpiper in 1924. Although excerpts from the opera (including the Polka from Act II, Scene 2, and the Fugue from the closing scene) had previously become successful concert pieces, the entire opera was first performed in Prague on April 27, 1927. The premiere was not noteworthy, but the revival in German (as Schwanda, der Dudelsackpfeifer) in Breslau, on December 16, 1928, was a sensation. Over 2,000 performances were given in Europe between 1927 and 1931. In the next few years it was performed in cities around the world, including the New York premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House on November 7, 1931. For a time, Weinberger found himself both rich and famous. Polka and Fugue was introduced to American orchestra audiences in 1928 by the eminent Austrian-German conductor Erich Kleiber (a student and conductor in Prague in 1911-1912). The score for band was transcribed by Glenn Cliffe Bainum in 1928. The opera libretto, based on a Czech folk tale and adapted by Milos Kares from a play by Josef Tul, is a delightful mixture of humor, fantasy, satire, and realism. The story involves Schwanda, the master bagpiper, and Babinsky, a robber who leads Schwanda on a series of adventures. The polka is taken from a scene in which Schwanda plays for Queen Iceheart, who is waiting for someone who can melt her heart. His irresistible playing does the trick, and the queen and Schwanda decide to get married, sealing their
vow with a kiss. However, Schwanda is already married to Dorota, so the marriage to the queen is canceled. In response to his wife’s questions of his fidelity, he cries, “If I have given the queen a single kiss, may the devil take me” -- and the devil does. He is rescued from hell, however, by Babinsky, who plays cards with the devil and wins everything he owns. He returns it all in exchange for Schwanda, who plays the fugue on his bagpipe before he leaves, so that the servants of hell may hear the playing of a master bagpiper. - Program Notes from Program Notes for Band
Wine-Dark Sea – Symphony for Band – John Mackey Mackey holds a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School and a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with John Corigliano and Donald Erb, respectively. Mr. Mackey particularly enjoys writing music for dance and for symphonic winds, and he has focused on those media for the past few years. His works have been performed at the Sydney Opera House; the Brooklyn Academy of Music; Carnegie Hall; the Kennedy Center; Weill Recital Hall; Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival; Italy's Spoleto Festival; Alice Tully Hall; the Joyce Theater; Dance Theater Workshop; and throughout Italy, Chile, Japan, Colombia, Austria, Brazil, Germany, England, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. John has received numerous commissions from the Parsons Dance Company, as well as commissions from the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, New York City Ballet’s Choreographic Institute, the Dallas Theater Center, the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, the New York Youth Symphony, Ailey 2, Concert Artists Guild, Peridance Ensemble, and Jeanne Ruddy Dance, among many others. Recent and upcoming commissions include works for the concert bands of the SEC Athletic Conference, the American Bandmasters Association, and the Dallas Wind Symphony. As a frequent collaborator, John has worked with a diverse range of artists, from Doug Varone to David Parsons, from Robert Battle to the U.S. Olympic Synchronized Swim Team. (The team won a bronze medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics performing to Mackey's score Damn.) John has been recognized with numerous grants and awards from organizations including ASCAP (Concert Music Awards, 1999 through 2006; Morton Gould Young Composer Award, 2002 and 2003), the American Music Center (Margaret Jory Fairbanks Copying Assistance Grant, 2000, 2002), and the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust (Live Music for Dance commissioning grants, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2005). He was a CalArts/Alpert Award nominee in 2000. In February 2003, the Brooklyn Philharmonic premiered John’s work Redline Tango at the BAM Opera House, with Kristjan Jarvi conducting. John made a new version of the work for wind ensemble in 2004 -Mackey's first work for wind band -- and that version has since received over 100 performances worldwide. The wind version won the 2004 Walter Beeler Memorial Composition Prize, and in 2005, the ABA/Ostwald Award from the American Bandmasters Association, making John the youngest composer to receive the honor. In 2009, John's work Aurora Awakes received both the ABA/Ostwald Award and the NBA William D. Revelli Composition Contest.
John served as a Meet-The-Composer/American Symphony Orchestra League "Music Alive!" Composer In Residence with the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphony in 2002-2003, and with the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra in 2004-2005. He was Composer In Residence at the Vail Valley Music Festival in Vail, Colorado, in the summer of 2004, Composer In Residence at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in August 2005. He has held college residencies at Florida State, University of Michigan, Ohio State, Arizona State, University of Southern California, University of Texas, among many others. Mr. Mackey served as Music Director of the Parsons Dance Company from 1999-2003. To entertain himself while procrastinating on commissions, John is a photography enthusiast. For the past 10 years, I've written all of my music in collaboration with my wife, Abby. She titles nearly all of my pieces, a process that usually involves my writing the music, then playing it for her, after which she tells me what the piece is about. Without her help, Aurora Awakes would be "Slow Music Then Fast Music #7 in E-flat." Sometimes she'll hear a piece halfway through my writing process and tell me what the music evokes to her, and that can take the piece in a different (and better) direction than I had originally intended. I've learned that the earlier she is involved in the process, the better the piece turns out. So with Wine-Dark Sea, my symphony for band, I asked for her help months before I ever wrote a note of music. The commission, from Jerry Junkin and The University of Texas Wind Ensemble, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music, was for a piece lasting approximately 30 minutes. How could I put together a piece that large? Abby had an idea. Why not write something programmatic, and let the story determine the structure? We had taken a similar approach with Harvest: Concerto for Trombone, my trombone concerto about Dionysus, the Greek god of wine. Why not return to the Greek myths for this symphony? And since this story needed to be big (epic, even), I'd use the original, truly epic tale of Odysseus, as told thousands of years ago by Homer in The Odyssey. The full Odyssey, it turned out, was too large, so Abby picked some of the "greatest hits" from the epic poem. She wrote a truncated version of the story, and I attempted to set her telling to music. Here is the story the way Abby outlined it (in three movements), and I set it: After ten years of bloody siege, the Trojan War was won because of Odysseus's gambit: A horse full of soldiers, disguised as an offering. The people of Troy took it in as a trophy, and were slaughtered. Odysseus gave the Greeks victory, and they left the alien shores for home. But Odysseus's journey would take as long as the war itself. Homer called the ocean on which Odysseus sailed a wine-dark sea, and for the Greek king it was as murky and disorienting as its name; he would not find his way across it without first losing himself. I. Hubris Odysseus filled his ship with the spoils of war, but he carried another, more dangerous, cargo: pride. This movement opens with his triumphal march, and continues as he and his crew maraud through every port of call on their way home. But the arrogance of a conquering mortal has one sure consequence in this world: a demonstration of that mortal's insignificance, courtesy of the gods. Odysseus offends; Zeus strikes down his ship. The sailors drown. Odysseus is shipwrecked. The sea takes them all.
II. Immortal thread, so weak This movement is the song of the beautiful and immortal nymph Kalypso, who finds Odysseus near death, washed up on the shore of the island where she lives all alone. She nurses him back to health, and sings as she moves back and forth with a golden shuttle at her loom. Odysseus shares her bed; seven years pass. The tapestry she began when she nursed him becomes a record of their love. But one day Odysseus remembers his home. He tells Kalypso he wants to leave her, to return to his wife and son. He scoffs at all she has given him. Kalypso is heartbroken. And yet, that night, Kalypso again paces at her loom. She unravels her tapestry and weaves it into a sail for Odysseus. In the morning, she shows Odysseus a raft, equipped with the sail she has made and stocked with bread and wine, and calls up a gentle and steady wind to carry him home. Shattered, she watches him go; he does not look back. III. The attentions of souls But other immortals are not finished with Odysseus yet. Before he can reach his home, he must sail to the end of the earth, and make a sacrifice to the dead. And so, this movement takes place at the gates of the underworld, where it is always night. When Odysseus cuts the throats of the sacrificial animals, the spirits of the dead swarm up. They cajole him, begging for blood. They accuse him, indicting him for his sins. They taunt him, mocking his inability to get home. The spirit of his own mother does not recognize him; he tries to touch her, but she is immaterial. He sees the ghosts of the great and the humble, all hungry, all grasping. Finally, the prophet Teiresias tells Odysseus what he must do to get home. And so Odysseus passes through a gauntlet beyond the edge of the world, beset by the surging, shrieking souls of the dead. But in the darkness he can at last see the light of home ahead. Wine-Dark Sea is dedicated to Jerry Junkin, without whom the piece would not exist. The second movement, Immortal thread, so weak, telling of Kalypso's broken heart, is dedicated to Abby, without whom none of my music over the past ten years would exist. - Program Note by composer
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