Evening Concert Series 2024 – 2025 Season
Helen M. Hosmer Concert Hall Friday, May 2nd at 7:30 PM
Spring Festival
Crane Symphony Orchestra
Michael J. Colburn, Director
Crane Chorus and Crane Symphony Orchestra
Festival Magnificat (2012)
Michael J. Colburn, conductor
Come Ready and See Me (2005)
Crane Chorus
Lindsay Hebert, conductor
RandolAlan Bass (b. 1953)
Richard Hundley (1931-2018)
The Evening Star (1911)
Elizabeth Powell, conductor
See You in the Stars (2017)
Meagan Dissinger, conductor
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)
Cait Nishimura (b. 1991)
Crane Symphony Orchestra
Suite from The Incredible Flutist (1938)
Introduction – Siesta in the Marketplace
Entrance of the Vendors
Entrance of the Customers
Tango of the Merchant’s Daughters
Arrival of the Circus
The Flutist
Minuet
Spanish Waltz (Eight o’clock strikes)
Siciliana
Polka Finale
Michael J. Colburn, conductor
Intermission
Crane Chorus and Crane Symphony Orchestra
Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast (1898)
Walter Piston (1895-1976)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)
Noah Unser, tenor (class of 2024)
Meagan Dissinger, conductor
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge with respect the Mohawk Nation, theIndigenouspeopleon whose ancestral lands SUNY Potsdam now stands. We are reminded by our presence here that we have the duty to live in harmony with one another and with all of creation. We are deeply grateful to the families and communities who care for this beautiful place.BeginningwithcolonizationandcontinuingforcenturiestheHaudenosaunee Peoples have been dispossessed of most of their ancestral lands by the actions of individuals and institutions. We acknowledge our responsibility to understand and respond to those actions and to commit to working together to honor our past and build our future with truth.
FLUTE
Simone McPartling*
Luke Raymond*
Julia Taylor
Maxwell Todack*
OBOE
Amara Leitner*
Mariana Morales
Molly Murphy*
Kayla Outman*
CLARINET
Michael Ducorsky*
Paige Krebs*
Brandon McLaughlin*
Jovany Rivers
BASSOON
Maddie Garcia
Liam Hill*
HORN
Mark Cannistraci
Moriah Clendenin
Natalie Hartmann
David Nesbitt*
TRUMPET
Virginia Bednarski*
Molly Collins
CaseyAsaro
TROMBONE
Tobey Dwyer
Samir Ghalayini
Victor Mainetti*
TUBA
Zach Barstow*
PERCUSSION
Jack Carola
Jared Emerson*
Angel Ren
Drew Spina
Bailey Yerdon
HARP
Harper Foley
PIANO
Kellie Tang
VIOLIN I
Madison Ballou
Stephen Borgia
Laura Chase
Julia Cohen
Vanessa Cruz*
John DiSpaltro
Holland Goddard
Paolina Iori*
Emma Kuegel
Maia Regan
Aidan Sperduti
Michael Wong
VIOLIN II
RJAhern-Stetson
Kaitlyn Caragiulo
Hannah Carlson
Gwendolyn Caro
Shannon Darby
Jessica Jaworski
Elsa Lumia
Carlos Martinez*
Emma Oliveri
Olivia Minarich
Amanda Quintanilla
Alyssa Spina
Morgan Stolz
VIOLA
JacquelineAlonso
EhrenAuer
Sam DiGennaro
Lola Gehman*
Nathan Redlein
Dylan Slade
Kiersten Wazny
VIOLONCELLO
Olivia Charleston
Maggie Christie
Gabriel Cook
Joaquin Fraga
Amy Frankovich*
Ollie Hernandez
Serenity Laird
Jayden Miranda
Lauren Pacholec
Miranda Paulino
Noah Pinto
Mirabel Sasiela
Ryan Seevers
Hannah Tufano
BASS
Caedmon Brown
Charlie Centeno
Holden Chamberlain
Molly Martellotta*
LIBRARIANS
Vanessa Cruz
Lola Gehman
Maggie Christie
VanessaAagaard
DaniAlbrecht
CamilaArias
JackArmstrong
Grace Austin
DrewAutote
David Barrere
Adam Beiter
Evelyn Bergstresser
Alyssa Bonfardeci
Abigail Brennan
Cailey Bringmann
Emily Buliung
Gabbie Butchko
Rylie Castle
William Codd
Manny Coleman
Grace Cometti
Sophia Condon
Anthony Conover
Madeline D’Arco
Julia DeLaurentis
Salomon Dessources
Isabelle Devlin
Gloria Diederich
Noah Driscoll
Jacob Edwards
Lin Engheben
Leah Ferrara
Percy Fetherston
Rebecca Gatto
William Gayne
Caden Gibbens
Katherine Golden
Ally Halko
Lindsay Hebert
Serena Heyden
PROGRAM NOTES
Festival Magnificat (2012)
RandolAlan Bass (b. 1953)
Born in Fort Worth, Texas, RandolAlan Bass grew up in Midland, Texas, where he studied piano, sang in local choral ensembles, and worked in community theatre. He received a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Texas atAustin in 1976, a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from the CollegeConservatory of Music in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1980, and entered doctoral study programs in choral and wind conducting at Ohio State University’s Robert Shaw Institute in Cincinnati and the University of Texas atAustin.
Bass is a composer, singer, pianist, arranger, and conductor. He has sung with the Dallas Symphony Chorus and Turtle Creek Chorale. He has performed as a piano soloist with the Coast GuardAcademy Band in New London, Connecticut, in his wind ensemble transcription of Ernst Von Dohnanyi’s Variations on a Nursery Tune. He has arranged and composed music for choruses and orchestras around the country. His music has been performed in the United States and abroad. He served as Music Director of theAustin Symphonic Band from 1982 to 1986. In 1993, he became Music Director and Conductor for the Metropolitan Winds of Dallas, a community-based civic wind ensemble.
Festival Magnificat is a colorful and exciting work for choir and orchestra. Its Latin text is taken from the liturgical “Magnificat,” often translated as “The Canticle of Mary.” It was composed in 2013 and dedicated to the Choirs of La Maîtrise de Saint-Léonard, Fourgeres, France.
By Michael Colburn
Come Ready and See Me (2005)
Richard Hundley (1931-2018)
Originally composed for solo voice by Richard Hundley, Come Ready and See Me features a poem of the same name byAmerican writer, James Purdy (19142009).As is consistent with artists who disrupt the status quo, Purdy’s work ignited significant criticism from the public. His work often illuminated the narratives of economically depressed families, Women, African-Americans, Indigenous communities, and transgender people. Purdy’s writings would gain
popularity at the end of his life, and his poems would become the settings of choral works. Come Ready and See Me, composed in 2005 by Richard Hundley, is a revival of Purdy’s poetry for the widerAmerican audience. Hundley writes: “For me, James Purdy’s poem concerns the poignancy of lost love, or of a love not yet realized.”
The
Evening Star (1911)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)
The Evening Star is a setting of the poem “To The Evening Star” written by Scottish poet, Thomas Campbell (1777-1844). The text tells a familiar story of the peace, hope, and love we wish to find through the evening star, beginning at the youngest of ages. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor expertly captures the sparkle of the evening star through exceptional harmony and melodic text painting. We perform this piece as part of our celebration of Coleridge-Taylor’s 150th birthday.
See You in the Stars (2017)
Cait Nishimura (b. 1991)
See You in the Stars, by Japanese-Canadian composer Cait Nishimura, is “inspired by the feeling of being apart from a loved one, and the desire to show love and care for that person despite a literal or figurative distance.” The original text floats through a celestial-sounding piano accompaniment. Together, they paint an image of loved ones meeting in the stars.
By Meagan Dissinger
Suite from The Incredible Flutist (1938)
Walter Piston (1895-1976)
The word “academic” is often used to describe Walter Piston, and the description has been applied equally to the man and his music. Piston did indeed spend a lifetime in academia, serving on the faculty of Harvard University’s department of music from 1928 until 1960. He was a revered and dedicated teacher who counted Leonard Bernstein, Elliott Carter, and John Harbison among his students. Piston himself had studied with Nadia Boulanger and like her, encouraged his students to find their own individual style rather than conform to any particular school. The characterization of Piston’s music as academic most likely stems from his neoclassical tendencies, affinity for older musical forms, and mastery (and frequent use) of counterpoint. To assume, however, that
“academic” equates to Piston’s music as being nothing more than dry musical exercises would be a mistake, as he was more than capable of creating works of tremendous beauty and lyricism within the framework of his “absolute” musical forms. That said, the fact remains that Piston did generally eschew programmatic and overtly romantic musical styles, making it particularly ironic that the piece is his best known for can be described by both of these terms.
The idea for the ballet The Incredible Flutist came via a three-way collaboration between the composer, choreographer Jan Veen, andArthur Fiedler, legendary conductor of the Boston Pops. The details of this collaboration are not known, but somehow Veen and and Fiedler must have convinced Piston to let us hair down for this post-romantic score quite unlike anything else in Piston’s catalogue of compositions.
The ballet, premiered at a Boston Pops concert on May 30, 1938, was such success that Fritz Reiner, then music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony, immediately commissioned Piston to rework the music in to a suite for orchestra, which received its premiere on November 22, 1940.Although the suite is considerably shorter and in a different sequence than the ballet, the original scenario illuminates and enhances the music of the suite. It is described in the August 1938 issue of Dance magazine:
The siesta is over. With a hearty yawn and wide stretch the village shakes off its drowsiness. First to wake up, theApprentice opens the shop, and life begins its eventual flow. The Merchant’s Daughters demonstrate their father’s wares to the Shoppers. The Busybody and the Crank have their argument. But what is this?...A march is heard! The Band, the Circus Band marches in, followed by the people of the circus. They’re all here: the Barker, the Jugglers, the Snake Dancer, the Monkey Trainer with her Monkeys, the Crystal Gazer, and, of course, the main attraction, the Flutist. The Flutist is a remarkable fellow, and incredible fellow. He not only charms snakes; he also charms, believe it or not, the Snake Dancer.
He is so romantic, the Incredible Flutist, and perhaps just a bit promiscuous, for he also charms the Merchant’s Daughter, and and they meet at eight o’clock that very evening. When the clock strikes eight, young couples are all over the place, and love is in the air. Even the prudish, rich widow cannot resist the charged
atmosphere and grants the Merchant the kiss he’s been begging for well nigh two years. But they don’t fare so well. Their sustained embrace is discovered, and the poor rich Widow faints right into the arms of her bewhiskered boyfriend. But the Incredible Flutist comes to her rescue.Alittle dancing, a little fluting, and the Widow comes out of the swoon, none the worse for wear.And then…the Band strikes up, the spell is broken; the Circus, Incredible Flutist and all, leave the village.
By Michael Colburn
Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast (1898)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s most esteemed work, Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast, is a part of a trilogy of cantatas entitled The Song of Hiawatha (Op. 30). Composed in 1898, this cantata is a musical adaptation of the epic poem, The Song of Hiawatha, written in 1855 byAmerican writer Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882). The poem tells the story of a fictional tragedy between Hiawatha, an Ojibwe warrior, and Minnehaha, a Dakota woman. While the characters and the story are not based on truth, Hiawatha was inspired by an Indigenous chief of the same name. Hiawatha was co-founder of the Iroquois Confederacy, a union of five Indigenous Nations including Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Mohawk. The Mohawk people are among the first people of the St. Lawrence river and Northern New York, the soil we stand upon today for this performance.
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was a Black-British composer. His father was a descendant of formerly enslaved people born in Sierra Leone, a WestAfrican country under the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom, and a colony for “free Blacks.” Throughout his career, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor broke barriers as a Black musician and activist. He served as a delegate for the First Pan-African Conference held in London in 1900, and was received at the White House by President Theodore Roosevelt during a time when racial tensions were considerably high in the United States. This year, we commemorate Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s 150th birthday, and acknowledge and celebrate his groundbreaking work as a non-idiomatic, Black composer with incredible talent and curiosity for the world and its people.
Finally, we remember the iconic first performance of "Hiawatha's Wedding Feast" at the Crane School of Music as part of the very first Spring Festival in 1932 under the baton of the trailblazing Dean Emerita Helen Hosmer, of whom this hall was named. The musicians and I recognize the significant contributions made by women such as Julia Crane and Helen Hosmer. We honor their existence and resilience and offer this piece as tribute to women conductors and music educators.
Through the many different intersections of history and identity discussed here, Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast reminds us that people cannot fully understand the experiences of those different from the self. However, it is always in our power and our purpose to listen, learn, respect, and uplift each other’s past, present, and future.
By Meagan Dissinger
