Winter Update, CODA

Winter Update

by Tiffany Ou-Ponticelli, CODA President

In December 2022, CODA hosted 200+ phenomenal student musicians in sunny San Diego for the CODA December Honor Orchestras. Rehearsing at San Diego State University, the Symphony Orchestra was conducted by Michael Gerdes, and the String Orchestra by Alexander Kahn. It was a fantastic celebration of orchestral music and education across our state!

CODA is looking forward to a fantastic CASMEC conference coming up in February! All-State ensembles return, with CODA hosting four ensembles with exciting repertoire from across the canon. CODA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Chair Alejandro Garcia shares more about some of our featured composers..

All-State Ensembles 2023 - Featured Composers

Silvestre Revueltas

Katie O’Hara LaBrie Jessie Montgomery

Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges

All State 2023 - CODA Ensembles

The High School Symphony Orchestra will be led by Gisele Ben-Dor, and will include works by John Adams, L.v. Beethoven, and “Sensemayá” by Silvestre Revueltas. Revueltas’s compositions are known for their colorful orchestration and distinctive use of rhythm. He frequently incorporated hemiolas and septuple or quintuple meters and many of his works suggest folk derivations. These stylistic features can be heard in one of the works of music that will be performed by the CODA High School All-State Symphony Orchestra, Sensemayá, one of Revueltas’s most well known pieces. It’s inspired by the poem of the same name by Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén. The poem itself is subtitled “Chant to kill a snake,” and paints the picture of an Afro-Cuban ritualistic killing of a snake. Listen to the poem HERE, and hear a preview performance of Sensemayá HERE.

The High School String Orchestra led by Mark Laycock, with repertoire by Vaughan Williams, Higdon, and Copland, will also include Jessie Montgomery’s “Starburst.” Jessie Montgomery is a violinist, composer, and educator and one of today’s most noteworthy voices in classical music. Starburst was written in 2012 for “Sphinx Virtuosi,” the professional touring group of Sphinx Organization. Starburst takes its title from Montgomery’s feeling that the members of the Sphinx Virtuosi are like new stars in a galaxy. From the composer, “This brief one-movement work for string orchestra is a play on imagery of rapidly changing musical colors. Exploding gestures are juxtaposed with gentle fleeting melodies in an attempt to create a multidimensional soundscape. A common definition of a starburst: “the rapid formation of large numbers of new stars in a galaxy at a rate high enough to alter the structure of the galaxy significantly” lends itself almost literally to the nature of the performing ensemble who premieres the work, The Sphinx Virtuosi, and I wrote the piece with their dynamic in mind.” Watch a performance of Starburst HERE.

The junior High School String Orchestra, led by Angela Ammerman, will feature a wide variety of works including “Pride of the HIghlands” by Katie O’Hara LaBrie. LaBrie is a veteran teacher with over 15 years of teaching orchestra in Fairfax County, Virginia. She is currently the editor for the Orchestra Division of Randall Standridge Music Publications. Listen to Pride of the Highlands HERE.

In its second year, the Junior High School Concert Orchestra will be led by Adrian Gordon. Repertoire for this ensemble will include Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges’ Symphony no. 1. Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, held an astonishing number of occupations during his life: composer, conductor, violinist, impresario, champion fencer, military officer, and nobleman. Born in 1745, he was the son of a wealthy planter and an enslaved servant. By the age of 27, he had composed a dozen violin Concertos, string quartets, and 10 Symphonies Concertantes. Listen to the arrangement of his Symphony no. 1 HERE.

In addition to four fantastic honor ensembles, we are excited to present orchestra sessions on technique development, improvisation and composition, diversity, equity and inclusion, and classroom differentiation. We look forward to seeing you at the conference!

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