Helen H. Hosmer Concert Hall Tuesday, February 25th at 7:30 PM
The Symphonic Band
Brian K. Doyle, conductor
The Concert Band
Jill Roberts, conductor
Symphonic Band Program
Marche des Parachutistes Belges (1945) Pierre Leemans (1897-1980)
Trans. CharlesA. Wiley
When I Consider the Heavens (2023) Grace Baugher Dunlap (b.1995)
FlyingAway (2022)
Concerto for Trumpet and Winds (1964) Largo; andante Allegro
Christopher Keach, trumpet
Yukiko Nishimura (b.1967)
John O’Reilly (b.1940)
Trumpetude (1965) Arthur Frackenpohl (1924-2019)
Christopher Keach, trumpet
Kaddish (1976) Francis McBeth (1933-2012)
From the Delta (1945) Work Song Spiritual Dance
William Grant Still (1895-1978)
Concert Band Program
Burning the Wickerman (2020)
American Hymnsong Suite (2009/2016)
Prelude on “Wonderous Love”
Ballad on “Balm in Gilead”
Scherzo on “Nettleton” March on “Wilson”
Planet B (2021)
The Last Hivemind II (2020)
Stillwater (2019)
Magnolia Star (2012)
Julie Giroux (b.1961)
Katherine Likhuta (b.1981)
Shuying Li (b.1989)
Kelijah Dunton (b.1999)
Stephen Danyew (b.1983)
Dwayne S. Milburn (b.1963)
Piccolo
SYMPHONIC BAND PERSONNEL
Yadiel Roman Martinez *
Flute
Juliana Blake
Katherine Steeves
Zoey Steele *
Hannah Goldstein
Kayla Sumberg
Catharine Chapman
Alyssa Squadrito
Zorah Barse
Oboe
Connor Martin
Kayla Outman
English Horn
Connor Martin
Bassoon
Jasper Eckrich
E-flat Clarinet
Matthew Lannigan
Clarinet
Hayley Colon *
Elliot Brock *
Grace Rabin
Sam McManus
Sarah Tarashuk
Lance Frayler
Shannon Thornton
Emma Marsillo
Danielle Mendikyan
Bass Clarinets
Evan Mintz
Jess LaRocca
Alto Saxophone
Dylan Sovie *
Jack Orrange
Tommy Castellon
Tenor Saxophone
Ryan Dunia
Baritone Saxophone
Jack Burley
Trumpet
Zoe Fragapane *
Jonny Smith *
Declan Kirby
Josh Bussem
Adam Sheifer
Alena Wratten
George Whalen
Juliane Egelston
Sebastian Hughes
Daniel Cooper
Michael Panella
Carter Sterner
Gia Boolukos
Horn
Anthony Bruno *
Peter Klewicki
Hannah Shufelt
Kallie Norton
Trombone
Elliott Borden *
Wyatt Moore
Eli Confer
Ian Bailey
Bass Trombone
Vivian Redmond
Euphonium
Zachary Phipps
Tuba
Walter Brown *
Isabella Santoli
Double Bass
Lilith Schatz
Percussion
Kam Balcom *
BrodieAinsworth
Tal Millas
Elijah Sutton
Sasha Truax
Wyatt Calcote
John McGrath
Harp
Harper Foley
Librarians
Kayla Outman
Bailey Yerdon
Jack Orrange
* Section Principal
CONCERT BAND PERSONNEL
Piccolo
David Morelli
Flute 1
Charlotte Dumphrey*
Jhenny Vicente Mellado
Paige Bourgeois
Flute 2
Sofia Perez
Sam Ocasio
Meredith Harnden
Aster Jacobsen
Oboe
Emma Kuegel*
Luke Raymond
Bassoon
Amara Leitner
Eb Clarinet
Sabrina Franco
Clarinet 1
McKenna Hickey*
Matthew Lannigan*
Clarinet 2
Charli Deixler
Julia Ellison
Brooke Seaver
Clarinet 3
Hunter Bowman
Aleia Hastings
William Codd
Bass Clarinet
SavanaAngulo
Alto Saxophone
Gioaco Imburgia*
Tyler Cobey
Tenor Saxophone
Marlow Creedon
Bari Saxophone
Madison Valenti
Trumpet
Maddie Pisciotti*
Gianna Voskinarian
Michael Morra
Ryan Godfrey
Katie Nowitzki
Chris Percopo
Jaydon Ceron
Caiden Cook
Kimberly Brandt
DonnyAnderson
AJ Martin
Chris Macaluso
Horn
Sam Hart*
Will Kirk
Joe Velez
Anni Walle
Trombone
Eli Confer*
Tori Arm
Andy Bautista
Bass Trombone
Charlie Cherchio
Euphonium
Austin Pelissier*
Tuba
Thomas Kerrigan*
Matt Smith
Percussion
Matthew Puhlman*
Quinton Lloyd
Brandon Phelps
Douglas VanSanford
Tal Millas
Jared Emerson
Jack Carola
Piano
Ryan Godfrey
*Denotes principal or co-principal
Librarians
Ashley Colucci
Kayla Outman
PROGRAM NOTES • SYMPHONIC BAND
Marche des Parachutistes Belges Pierre Leemans
While he was serving his year of military duty at the end of World War I, Pierre Leemans’ regimental commander asked him to compose a march. It was begun but never finished. Near the end of World War II, he was having dinner with a group of paratroopers and was again asked to compose a march. As the group commander, Maj. Timmerman, drove him home that night, the march theme came to mind, and he wrote out all the parts after reaching home.
The trio of the march originated from a march written for an N.I.R. radio contest. After only winning the consolation prize, the march was abandoned and is known with the competition designation V. A quiet, unaggressive essay in the easy-paced European style, it is set in the form of a “patrol”; the music marches on from the distance, plays, and passes.
Friends told him later that they had heard the march at a circus in France, a wedding in India, and a military musicpageant in theUnitedStates. Thearrangement most oftenheardin theUnitedStates was madeby Charles A. Wiley at the request of his Lamar University band students for the 1957 Texas Music Education Association (TMEA) Convention.
Program Note from Program Notes for Band
When I Consider the Heavens
Grace Baugher Dunlap
This work has been developing in the back of my mind for a couple of years. I’ve wanted to write a piece that encapsulatesmythought processwhenIlookupat thenightskyoracrossabeautifullandscape.Thesemoments give me perspective: that my worries and my problems are so little when compared to the wide universe we live in. And yet, they are part of the beauty of living and part of the human experience.
The title of this work comes from Psalm 8:3-4, which reads:
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?
Program Note by Grace Baugher Dunlap
Concerto for Trumpet and Winds
John O’Reilly
John O'Reilly demonstrated a gift for musical composition at an early age, writing music for band and wind chamber groups. He attended the Crane School of Music, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in 1962 and began his career in East Meadow (Long Island), NY. Later, he received Master of Arts degree in composition and theory from Columbia University. Among his teachers were Robert Washburn, Arthur Frackenpohl, Donald Hunsberger, and Charles Walton.
O'Reilly's years of teaching experience (five at the elementary level, five at the junior-senior high school level, and two at the college level) provided insights which have shaped his compositional style in creating music for school bands. He has received numerous ASCAP awards. He is co-author of Accent on Achievement, the Yamaha Band Student and Strictly Strings and has made a major impact on concert band and strings music education.
Concerto for Trumpet and Winds consists of two contrasting movements. The first is slow and quite lyric, and the mood is placid. There are a few dramatic moments, but in general the soloist has the opportunity to display the legato, medlodic qualities of the instrument.
The second movement is lively, and the mood is established by the four-measure introduction played by the percussion section. Syncopated rhythms, fast scale passages and wide melodic skips present a style of trumpet playing quite different from the lyric quality of the first movement. The soloist often traverses the entire range of the instrument within two short, fst-moving measures. The band accompaniment serves to accentuate the syncopated rhythms and provides a background for the pyrotechnical display by the soloist.
The concerto was written for John D. Schorge, Associate Professor at the State University College at Potsdam, who premiered it with the Crane Wind Ensemble and Gordon Mathie, guest conductor, on April 26, 1965.
Trumpetude
Arthur Frackenpohl
The Crane Bands continue their centenary celebration of Crane faculty member and friendArthur Frackenpohl with a performance of his Trumpetude, based upon “Characteristic Study No. 11” by Jean BaptisteArban. Art was a great friend to the wind band, penning several works with his characteristic humor and style. In addition to writing for wind bands, Art’s legendary work with the Canadian Brass not only helped define their core repertoire but left a legacy of over 100 works written and arranged for the brass quintet medium.
Christopher Keach, trumpet soloist
ChristopherKeach, aNewYork-basedprofessionalmusician,educator,andresearcher,is theAssistantVisiting Professor of Trumpet at the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. He is a multi-talented performer with experience in classical, jazz, and Afro-Cuban music. Christopher has performed with the Segal Centre Theatre organization, the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra, the Orchestra of Northern New York, the Northern Symphonic Winds, and in the New Works Recital at the 2023 International Trumpet Guild (ITG) Conference. As a soloist, Christopher had the honor to open for the Nakariakov-Kashimoto-Meerovich trio. He has worked with artists such as Ed Carroll, Sergei Nakariakov, James Thompson, Septura Brass Septet, Fabio Brum, Caleb Hudson, Jim Wilt, Nikki LaBonte, and Anthony Plog.
Christopher is as versatile an educator as he is a performer. He has experience teaching a variety of age groups and settings, including K-5 general music, as well as 9-12th grade jazz band and symphonic band. At the 2021 MasterWorks festival, Christopher performed with the faculty brass quintet, the symphony orchestra, and the brass ensemble, and had the privilege of coaching one of the collegiate quintets. Since the summer of 2022, Christopher has taught at the Bay Shore High School Summer Music Program where he teaches lessons to beginning and high school instrumentalists. He continues to expand on the knowledge and experience of high school musicians and creates a curriculum for beginning musicians to learn and explore musical literacy on a newinstrument. Additionally, in his privatestudio heteaches both jazz andclassical trumpet lessons to students of all ages.
Along with his teaching and performance experience, Christopher has a great interest in research, specifically in the fields of performance science and electronic music. He has worked as the research assistant for McGill's Applied Performance Sciences Hub where he explores healthy learning and stress management techniques for musicians. Additionally, his doctoral research focuses on the realm of performance science, where he is studying different practicetechniquesandtheireffect onlong-term memoryandretention. Christopherreceived theCentreforInterdisciplinaryResearchin MusicMediaandTechnology (CIRMMT)StudentAward to pursue research in electronically augmented trumpet performance.
Christopher has received world-renowned recognition for his performances and research. He was awarded second place in the 2022 ITG Wind Band Excerpt Competition and was selected as a finalist for the 2024 McGill Concerto Competition where he will perform the Pakhmutova trumpet concerto with the McGill Wind
Orchestra. Additionally, Christopher was a finalist in the first Trumpeter's Multi-Track Competition (TMTC) andcompetedatthe2022/23NationalTrumpetCompetitionSmallEnsembleDivisionwithMcGillUniversity's trumpet ensemble. Christopher was also the recipient of the 2020-2021 International Grant Writing Competition for Music Performance at McGill University.
He is completing his DMus degree in trumpet performance at McGill University, Schulich School of Music, in the studio of Professor Richard Stoelzel, where he received his MMus in trumpet performance. Christopher also holds his B.M. in Trumpet Performance and B.M.E. from The Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, where he studied with Dr. John R. Ellis.
Kaddish Francis McBeth
Kaddish (rhymes with Schottische) is an ancient Jewish doxological prayer for the dead. It is said by the bereaved each morning and evening for eleven months, then on the anniversary of the death thereafter. To it is ascribed the power of redeeming the departed soul from any suffering and the efficacy of invalidating an evil decree. The composition was written as a memorial to J. Clifton Williams, noted composer and former teacher of McBeth at the University of Texas.
This work is a combination of all emotions that surround the death of a friend - cries, shouts, resignation and sorrow - but the work should end as an alleluia, an affirmation of life. The constant background heartbeat in the bass drum and timpani reinforces this feeling of life. Howard Dunn and the Richardson (Texas) High School Band commissioned Kaddish, premiering it in March of 1976, with the composer conducting.
Note by W. Francis McBeth
From the Delta
William Grant Still
Considered the “Dean of African American Composers,” William Grant Still’s groundbreaking career was comprised of many “firsts.” He was the first African American composer to have a symphony performed by a professional orchestra in the U.S., his Symphony No. 1 "Afro-American" (1930). The symphony was premiered by Howard Hanson and the Rochester Philharmonic. The was later given its New York premiere by the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall in 1935. W.G. Still also became the first African American to conduct a major symphony orchestra in the United States, leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1936. In the world of opera, his Troubled Island was the first by an African American to be performed by a major opera company (New York City Opera, 1949) and that same opera was the first by an African American to be nationally televised.
Will Grant Still's first work for band was an arrangement of Old California, which was performed by the Goldman Band many times in the early 1940s. In response to Goldman's request for original music for band and a commission from the Leeds Music Corporation, W.G. Still composed From the Delta in 1945. It was premiered by the Goldman Band in 1947 and quickly received many performances around the country. With melodies that could pass as actual folk songs, Still uses a variety of colors, textures and sounds to musically evoke each movement’s title (“Work Song,” “Spiritual,” and “Dance”) in a direct way, capturing the essence of African American life on the Mississippi Delta. Work Song illustrates a chain gang singing their way through days of hard labor. Spiritual is a more somber movement, meant to convey the pain felt by African Americans living in slavery. The final movement, Dance is the liveliest of the three movements and paints a portrait of friends coming together to celebrate one another, despite their daily hardships.
From the Delta remains a unique and important contribution to the wind band’s repertoire.
PROGRAM NOTES • CONCERT BAND
Burning the Wickerman Julie
Giroux
Man has burned effigies of objects as a way of celebration for hundreds if not thousands of years. Historically, a wicker man was a large wicker construction in the shape of a man that was reportedly used by the ancient pagan Druids. Hollow inside, it has been recorded that the Druids would confine a human sacrifice within, usually somebody guilty of a crime worthy of a death sentence.
This work does is not a musical reflection of ancient practices but of modern ones. There are many different celebrations using giant wicker man effigies around the world. They are used as art displays, at music festivals and a wicker man was also used as thematic material in a song by the rock band Iron Maiden.
Burning the Wickerman is an exciting, dramatic work depicting the building of a wicker man followed by its burning. While melodically it is sinister at times, that is not a reflection on the history, but on the properties of fire itself. The piece ends with the Wickerman engulfed in flames as a celebration of new beginnings.
Composed for the 2020 Music for All National High School Honor Band, Timothy J. Holton, conductor, but not performed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Program Note by Julie Giroux
American Hymnsong Suite
Dwayne S. Milburn
American Hymnsong Suite is firmly rooted in my family history as church musicians. I grew up singing and playing many different hymns, including the four tunes featured in this work. The final impetus to compose this particular treatment came during the course of an organ concert in Atlanta, Georgia. One section of the program featured innovative settings of three hymns. With the gracious consent of composers Joe Utterback and Brooks Kukendall, I adapted their settings to act as the inner movements of the suite, bracketed with my own original treatments of favorite hymns.
The Prelude on Wondrous Love (“What Wondrous Love is This”) opens with a chant-like statement of this Southern tune before proceeding to a more kinetic retelling. Ballad on “Balm in Gilead” features a rich jazz harmonization of this familiar spiritual. The Scherzo on “Nettleton” (“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”) contains all the rhythmic playfulness inherent in the best orchestral third movements, and the March on “Wilson” (“When We All Get to Heaven”) calls to mind the wildest marching band ever heard.
While audience members will certainly make various connections to this piece, the ongoing goal is to introduce all listeners to the richness of our American musical heritage.
Program Note by Dwayne S. Milburn
It is no secret to anyone that our planet is suffering, least of all to the children of today. I heard the following sentiment: “Take care of your planet. There is no planet B.” And I thought: what if there were an ideal planet without violence, racism, greed, ecological emergencies and global pandemics? A musical journey towards such a planet could give us all some optimism for the future. I believe that in 2021 we need it more than ever.
The piece opens with static stacked perfect fifths, representing the vastness and the mysterious power of space. Then, we zoom in on Earth, singling it out from the entire galaxy. The Earth is crying. It is hurt. It is letting out deep sighs, as if a wounded majestic animal.
The next section of the piece, characterised by rising tension, is the musical version of "enough is enough!". It represents the protests, the high-school kids carrying huge posters, the outcries of the young generation. They
Planet B
Catherine Likhuta
are brave, bold, and they demand change and action. They came to protest and brought their message across loud and clear. Think about Greta Thunberg screaming: "...we will NEVER forgive you!!!" with tears running down her cheeks. The Earth is shouting with them, and the Earth is grieving with them.
The final section opens with the musical imitation of the sky clearing after a storm, sun coming out, and nature starting to awaken. This section is about positivity, hope and healing. In the final chords, we are zooming out and going back into space, seeing the Earth get smaller and smaller. The Earth is smiling. It looks greener. It feels healed.
Program Note by Catherine Likhuta
The Last Hivemind II
Shuying Li
The Last Hivemind II was commissioned by the ASPIRE Consortium, led by conductor Glen Adsit at the Hartt School. Inspired by the British TV series Black Mirror, and the general idea of recent increasing debate around artificial intelligence and how it will affect our daily lives as human beings. I put some of my thoughts, perspectives, and imagination into this work. Thanks to Glen for coming up with the dynamic and matching title it also helped shape how musical narrative navigates its way throughout.
Mainly, I was struck by the episode Metalhead. After the unexplained collapse of human society, a group of people tried to flee from the robotic “dogs,” a vast hive mind with metal-built bodies and powerful computerized “brains.” The failure was almost predictable. However, a detail that struck me the most was that these human beings got trapped in the crazy chase because of their effort of searching a comforting gift for a very sick child a fluffy teddy bear. As the title indicates, this work depicts the struggle between the artificial intelligence, of the hive mind, and the dimming humanity; furthermore, the work implies the final collapses and the breakdown of the last hive mind followed by its triumph.
Program Note by Shuying Li
Stillwater Kelijah Dunton
This work was inspired by the beauty of a small town, Stillwater, Minnesota. This town has a big lake in its center, and out of everyone’s backyard it could be seen. During the winter, the very top of the lake freezes and creates this tranquil effect that could not be seen, but heard. When stepping out into your backyard, you’d see this frozen mass, stuck into place and completely unmovable, but if you listened closely, you could hear that the water underneath continued to flow.
Why is this important?
We as people forget sometimes that we are so much more deep and vast beneath our hard surfaces. We work, we go to school, we take care of our families, we deal with the struggles of the day-to-day routine militantly. But if we just take a moment to listen within ourselves, we discover our passions, our longings, and our sense of belongings.
Program Note by Kelijah Dunton
Magnolia Star Steve Danyew
When I was playing saxophone in my middle school jazz band, we started every rehearsal the same way –with an improvisation exercise that our director created. It was a simple yet brilliant exercise for teaching beginning improvisation and allowing everyone in the band a chance to “solo.” As a warm-up at the opening of each rehearsal, the whole band played the blues scale ascending, resting for one measure, descending, and resting for another measure. During the measures of rest, each member of the band took turns improvising a solo. Looking back, this exercise not only got the band swinging together from the start of rehearsal, but it made improvisation, a daunting musical task to many, seem within everyone’s abilities.
This experience was my introduction to the blues scale, and I have long wanted to write a piece inspired by this group of pitches. In Magnolia Star, I explore various ways to use these pitches in harmonies, melodies, and timbres, creating a diverse set of ideas that will go beyond sounds that we typically associate with the blues scale. I didn’t want to create a “blues” piece, but rather a piece in my own musical voice that uses and pays homage to the blues scale. Nearly all of the pitches used in Magnolia Star fit into the concert C blues scale. It is interesting to note that embedded within the C blues scale are both a C minor triad, an E-flat minor triad, and an E-flat major triad. I explore the alternation of these tonal areas right from the start of the piece, and continue to employ them in different ways throughout the entire work.
Another influence was trains and the American railroad. The railroad not only provides some intriguing sonic ideas, with driving rhythms and train-like sonorities, but it was also an integral part of the growth of jazz and blues in America. In the late 19th century, the Illinois Central Railroad constructed rail lines that stretched from New Orleans and the “Delta South” all the way north to Chicago. Many Southern musicians traveled north via the railroad, bringing “delta blues” and other idioms to northern parts of the country. The railroad was also the inspiration for countless blues songs by a wide variety of artists. Simply put, the railroad was crucial to the dissemination of jazz and blues in the early 20th century. Magnolia Star was an Illinois Central train that ran from New Orleans to Chicago with the famous Panama Limited in the mid-20th century.
