MASLANKA
1943–2017
i. overture – All Creatures of Our God and King
ii. seeking
iii. brooding march
iv. as you proceed to your certain end, what is the point of being alive?
v. a hard thought that turns out alright
vi. a sweet tune
vii. All Creatures of Our God and King
Jennifer Youngs, soprano soloist
Jeff Nilsson, organ
Scott Bersaglia, conductor of the Sacred Winds Ensemble, asked me to write a piece in honor of the 10th anniversary of the group. The commission reads: “The new work will be a minimum of five minutes in duration...oriented around a sacred theme to be chosen by the composer.” Scott offered me a selection of hymn tunes, and All Creatures of Our God and King just stood out above all the others. It is a grand tune and it inspired a whole lot of musical thought in me. The result is a good deal longer than five minutes! It is a set of seven “songs” for wind ensemble, each embodying the original tune, or relating to it in some way. This old melody, All Creatures of Our God and King, is large in spirit, and the harmonization by Ralph Vaughan Williams, which I have adopted in the Overture, is full-bodied and wonderfully satisfying. All things of light are paralleled and powered by an element of darkness, and my variations, particularly two through five, prove in that direction. Darkness here means awareness of a deep mystery in the universe, and of the struggles that all endure in this life.
The title Unending Stream of Life comes from the Vietnamese Buddhist monk and prolific author on Buddhist subject, Thich Nhat Hanh. One statement of his stayed with me through the composition of this piece: “We are life. We are inextinguishable!”
- Program Note by composer
Angels in the Architecture was commissioned by Kingsway International and received its premiere performance at the Sydney Opera House on July 6, 2008, by a massed band of young musicians from Australia and the United States, conducted by Mathew George. The work unfolds as a dramatic conflict between the two extremes of human existence -- one divine, the other evil. The work’s title is inspired by the Sydney Opera House itself, with its halo-shaped acoustical ornaments hanging directly above the performance stage.
Angels in the Architecture begins with a single voice singing a 19th-century Shaker song:
I am an angel of Light I have soared from above I am cloth’d with Mother’s love.
I have come, I have come. To protect my chosen band And lead them to the promised land.
This “angel” -- represented by the singer -- frames the work, surrounding it with a protective wall of light and establishing the divine. Other representations of light, played by instruments rather than sung, include a traditional Hebrew song of peace (“Hevenu Shalom Aleichem”) and the well-known 16th-century Genevan Psalter, Old Hundredth. These three borrowed songs, despite their varied religious origins, are meant to transcend any one religion, representing the more universal human ideals of peace, hope, and love. An original chorale, appearing twice in the work, represents my own personal expression of these aspirations.
Just as Charles Ives did more than a century ago, Angels in the Architecture poses the unanswered question of existence. It ends as it began: the angel reappears sings the same comforting words. But deep below, a final shadow reappears -- distantly, ominously.
- Program Note by composer
This performance of Angels in the Architecture marks the first performance of the BYU Symphonic Band with the pipe organ in the BYU Concert Hall. This has 4603 pipes and two custom design consoles, and was custom-built by Letourneau Pipe Organs of Saint-Hyacinth, Quebec, Canada.
Piccolo
Olivia Coleman - Music and Psych Peachtree City, GA
Flute
*Emma Allgaier - Music Performance......................................... Brunswick, MD
Madeleine Miller - Elementary Education ................................... Salt Lake City, UT
Alex Nielsen - Communication Disorders Riverton, UT
Lidia Darlington - Biology Pre Med ................................................. Alpine, UT
Hailey Tolbert - Music Ed Pre Major ............................................ Heber City, UT
Daniela Yarrington - Open Major ........................................ Saratoga Springs, UT
Oboe
*Paris Tracy – Music Education .............................................. Washington, UT
Tessa Harrison - Cell Biology and Physiology ................................ Framingham, MA
English Horn
Megan Robinson - Economics Lehi, UT
Bassoon
*Madison Sarahs - Music Saratoga ............................................... Springs, UT
Carmen Maruri - Chemistry ........................................................ Detroit, MI
Clarinet
*Barry Creighton - Mechanical Engineering ............................... College Station, TX
Becky Schank - Family & Consumer Science Ed.................................. Kaysville, UT
Cambria Farr - Graphic Design .......................................................Avon, UT
Rachel Pearson - Music Merritt Island, FL
Sonia Cheney - Wildlife & Wildlands Conservation .............................. Fairbanks, AK
Coral Schlag - Psychology ............................................................ Laie, HI
Katherine McKinney - Bioinformatics Meridian, ID
Liah Meredith - Family History-Geneology ......................................... Pasco, WA
Bianca Flores - Pre-Music ........................................................ Camas, WA
Megan Watts - Sociocultural Anthropology ....................................... Bothell, WA
Veronica Rimer - Pre Music Education ............................................. Lindon, UT
Caleb Short - Political Science Pleasant Grove, UT
E-flat Clarinet
Jessica Callaghan - Elementary Education .................................... Celebration, FL
Trombone
*Graeme Clayton - Music Performance/Math .................................... Payson, UT
AJ Boyd - Software Engineering Plano, TX
Landon Crook - Computer Science ............................................ Great Falls, MT
James Jessop - Mechanical Engineering ........................................Highland, UT
Pete Alger - Music Education Eagle Mountain, UT
Daniel Spencer - Music ............................................................. Provo, UT
Bowen Boyack - Music .......................................................... Lawrence, KS
Bass Trombone
David Kochenderfer - Open Major Maple Grove, MN
Euphonium
*Olivia Aydelotte – Music Education ................................................ Vista, CA
Shayna Ashley - Music..................................................... Moreno Valley, CA
Esther Hales - Wildlife & Wildlands Conservation Cache, OK
Tuba
*Jared Bak - Applied Physics .................................................... Portland, OR
Jeff Nilsson - Music Performance (Organ) .............................. Highlands Ranch, CO
Nathan Stone - Chemical Engineering Plainfield, IL
Piano
Beverly Ririe - Music ................................................................ Orem, UT
Organ
Jeff Nilsson - Music Performance (Organ) ............................... Highland Ranch, CO
Percussion
*Ella Packard - Music Education ............................................... St. George, UT
Connor Chase - Music Education ................................................ Ruidoso, NM
Sarah Cottrell - Nursing ............................................................ maha, NE
Sophie Pyper - Communication Disorders ...................................... Nashville, TN
Josh Briggs - Music Performance Bend, OR
Davis Hume - Chemical Engineering ............................................... Parker, CO
* PRINCIPAL
^ ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL
Nathan Seamons
Conductor
Dr. Nate Seamons joined the faculty at BYU in 2021, where he serves as the associate director of bands. In this capacity, he is the conductor of the BYU Symphonic Band and the BYU University Band. He also teaches courses in music education. He previously served as the director of bands at Snow College. He has served as the band director for multiple public schools in Utah and Texas, including American Fork High School in Utah and the L.D. Bell High School cluster in Texas. He holds degrees from Brigham Young University, University of Nevada–Las Vegas, and the University of Utah.
Dr. Seamons has served as associate conductor for the Wasatch Winds and the Irving Symphonic Band (Texas). He has also guest conducted the Utah Premiere Brass and the Utah Wind Symphony. Dr. Seamons has been a guest conductor at honor bands and school programs both regionally and nationally. His research has been presented at the Midwest International Clinic and the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles conference in Gwangju-Gyeonggi, Korea.
Dr. Seamons has been blessed to perform in Korea, Hong Kong, Slovakia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Italy, England, France, Switzerland, Germany, and Canada. He is a former member of the Orchestra at Temple Square and the Las Vegas Philharmonic Orchestra, playing trombone. Dr. Seamons is a Conn-Selmer educational clinician and an active marching band show designer. He lives in Highland, Utah, with his wife, Mary Jane, and four children. He enjoys skiing, hiking, and boating with his family when not making music.
Jennifer Youngs
Guest Artist,
Soprano
“The standout in the Rinaldo cast was Jennifer Youngs, who vividly portrayed Armida’s vulnerability as well as ferocity. Her substantive soprano alternately raged, flickered and delicately touched in high notes.”
-The Dallas Morning News
Soprano Jennifer Youngs’ most recent appearance as Armida in Handel’s Rinaldo with The American Baroque Opera Company was hailed as a standout from the Dallas Morning News. Jennifer made her main stage Dallas Opera debut as Olimpia in Argento’s The Aspern Papers and was seen in the role of Laurette in the Dallas Opera Outreach production of Bizet’s Dr. Miracle. Opera roles include Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Birdie in Regina, Vitellia in La clemenza di Tito, Casilda in The Gondoliers, and Clorinda in La Cenerentola. She has been a featured soloist for Mahler’s 4th Symphony, Carmina Burana, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Creation, Bach’s Cantata #110, Brahms Requiem, Mozart’s Exsulate, jubilate, and Mozart Requiem. She has been a featured soloist with The Dallas Symphony, The Dallas Opera Orchestra, Abilene Philharmonic, Winston-Salam Symphony, Richardson Symphony, and University of North Texas Symphony orchestras. Jennifer is a champion for living composers and has been featured on recitals with composers Jake Heggie, Tom Cipullo, Dominick Argento, S. Andrew Lloyd, Paul David Thomas, Lisa DeSpain, and the late Dave Brubeck. Jennifer also is a member of the GRAMMY-nominated ensemble, The South Dakota Chorale.
Jennifer has been nominated for a Richard Tucker Foundation Career Grant in NYC by Joyce DiDonato. She is the winner of the Lois Alba Aria Competition, winner of the Kansas City District of the Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions, winner of the concerto competition at The University of North Texas, and a semi-finalist in the Loren Zachary Vocal Competition.
Youngs is a member of the voice faculty at Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah where she teaches private voice, vocal pedagogy, and diction. Previously, Jennifer was an Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Vocal Studies at Texas Woman’s University, in Denton, Texas. She earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Performance and Pedagogy as well as a Master of Music degree in Performance and Opera from the University of North Texas and a Bachelor of Music degree in Performance from the Conservatory of Music at University of the Pacific.