10.18.23 Crane Wind Ensemble

Evening Concert Series Helen H. Hosmer Concert Hall

2023 – 2024 Season Wednesday, October 18, 7:30 p.m.

The Crane Wind Ensemble Brian K. Doyle, conductor magneticfireflies (2001)

Augusta Read Thomas (b. 1964)

Cold (2018)

Katahj Copley (b. 1998)

Fantasia and Fugue in C Minor BWV537 (c.1723)

Vientos y Tangos (2004)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Trans. Donald Hunsberger Michael Gandolfi (b. 1956)

Intermission Silversides (2021) Symphony in Blue and Gold (2023) Blues & Fugues In Gold Waltz Finale Consortium Premiere

William Owens (b. 1963) Erika Svanoe (b. 1976)

PERSONNEL Piccolo Emma Fusco * Flute Simone McPartling Chris Connors Renee Rivers Mark Peragine Matt Williams Oboe Kayla Outman Molly Ronan Mariana Morales

Bass Clarinets Jovany Rivers Abby Rodriguez Evan Mintz

Trombone Tobey Dwyer * Octavia Duvigneaud Victor Mainetti

Soprano Saxophone Claire Ames*

Bass Trombone Vivian Redmond

Alto Saxophone Claire Ames Nathaniel Cobb Carina Phillips

Euphonium Jennifer Carden * Aidan Sears

Tenor Saxophone Kerri Rauschelbach

English Horn Molly Ronan

Baritone Saxophone Celeste LaFlamm

Bassoon Sophia Markevich Liam Hill

Trumpet Ryan Rafferty * Layne Sullivan * Olivia Montagno Andrew Shiebler Molly Collins Dan Isak Joshua York

Contra Bassoon Jordon Gyarmathy E-flat Clarinet Gianna Montagno Clarinet Nick Alvarez * Libby Sheldon Gianna Montagno Elizabeth Fomenko Brandon McLaughlin Jaelyn Twitchell Ushuaia Diaz Nicholas Derderian David Bobowski

Horn Heather Murphy Gianna Ingersoll Sophia Randazzo Dario Longobardi David Nesbitt

Tuba Analiese Meidenbauer * John Lithco Henry Stringer Double Bass Chris Gilbert Percussion Bailey Yeardon * Wyatt Calcote Kameron Balcom Elisabeth Skalski Hailey Gomez Nadav Isak Piano Jack Jiang Harp Ricky Chui Librarians Ashley Colucci Kayla Outman * Section Principal

PROGRAM NOTES magneticfireflies

Augusta Read Thomas

Magneticfireflies is an essay in juxtaposition and synthesis. Augusta Read Thomas takes as her archetypes Gustav Mahler: for his stark, bold and individual orchestrational colors; and Claude Debussy: for his impressionistic timbres, wholly blended. The composer creates several compositional layers in this loosely organic form as “arguments” for juxtaposition: solo vs. ensemble, fanfare vs. lyricism, stasis vs. rhythmic activity, dynamic contrast, and contrasting articulation (including hosts of grace notes, flutter tongue, and trills).

After the brief first statement, the individual contrasts begin a series of syntheses, taking on characteristics of their opponents. After the brief flute solo, there is a return of sorts, leading to a final synthesis in the coda.

Cold

Katahj Copley

Katahj Copley is an American saxophonist, composer and educator currently attending Michigan State University as a doctoral student in composition. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Texas Austin and a music education degree from the University of West Georgia.

Copley’s first work, Spectra, was premiered in 2017 by the University of West Georgia’s Saxophone Ensemble.

Since then, Copley has written over sixty pieces, including over twenty-five for wind band, which have been performed by many local high schools. His compositions have been commissioned and performed by schools, colleges, organizations, and professional ensembles.

Music for Copley has always been an impactful facet in his life. It can soothe, it can enrage, it can quiet and it can evoke emotions that are beyond him and this world we live in. He believes that music is the ultimate source of freedom and imagination, and the most freedom he has had as a musician was through composing.

Composition is like opening one's heart and showing the world his spirit, drive, and passion.

Cold is a piece dedicated to my grandfather. The day he died is a day I will never forget. I was in the same room of my grandfather the night he passed away, and for me not only was the room painfully cold but my spirit was as well; I didn't know exactly how to feel at that moment or what to even say. Eventually I figured out that while my words couldn't tell those emotions, my music could. The piece, like its title, suggests cold and emotional playing, not only from the soloists but from the ensemble as a whole.

Using metallic percussion to begin, this piece reflects my feelings that moment: confusion, anger, and sadness.

Program note by Katahj Copley

Fantasia and Fugue in C Minor

Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach served two separate tenures in the small town of Weimar, first briefly in 1703, and then in 1708. During his second tenure as court organist, Bach shaped the musical landscape of Weimar, writing a full three-quarters of his organ works there, as well as several cantatas and harpsichord works. During his period in Weimar his fame as an organist grew, and he was visited by students of the organ to hear him play and to try to learn from his technique. His Fantasia and Fugue in C minor may have been composed during the latter part of his tenure in Weimar, but its origins are still a mystery. We only know about the work via a very careful manuscript copy, with the inscription “Soli Deo Gloria den 10, Januarii, 1751,” found in a book from the estate of J. L. Krebs, a famous pupil of Bach. This would indicate that it had been copied less than one half a year after Bach’s death.

The organ and the contemporary wind band share numerous timbre and sound projection properties as well as sharing philosophy and technique in organ registrations and in wind orchestration. Donald Hunsberger, whose instrumentation closely follows concepts of organ registration, created unique timbres and tonal couplings in the wind and brass sections throughout. This transcriptio was the first work published in The Donald Hunsberger Wind Library.

Vientos y Tangos

Michael Gandolfi

Michael Gandolfi’s earliest musical experiences were in rock and jazz improvisation. He studied composition at the New England Conservatory of Music and has since joined the faculty of the conservatory. Gandolfi has received numerous honors as a composer of contemporary classical music. Vientos y Tangos was Gandolfi’s first work for the wind ensemble.

Vientos y Tangos (Winds and Tangos) was commissioned as part of “The Frank L. Battisti 70th Birthday Commission Project,” and is dedicated to Frank Battisti in recognition of his immense contributions to the advancement of concert wind literature. It was Mr. Battisti’s specific request that I write a tango for wind ensemble. In preparation for this piece, I devoted several months to the study and transcription of tangos from the early style of Juan D’arienzo and the “Tango Nievo” style of Astor Piazzolla to the current trend of “Disco/Techno Tango,” among others. After immersing myself in this listening experience, I simply allowed the most salient features of these various tango to inform the direction of my work. The dynamic contour and the various instrumental combinations that I employ in the piece are all inspired by the traditional sounds of the bandoneon, violin, piano, and contrabass.

Program note by Michael Gandolfi

Silversides

William Owens

William Owens is an American composer, conductor, clinician and educator. Born in Gary, IN, and a graduate of VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, Mr. Owens is active as a composer, conductor, and clinician throughout the United States and Canada.

Mr. Owens has written nearly 200 commissioned and published works for concert band and string orchestra.

His music has been programmed at prestigious venues such as the Midwest Clinic and appears on required music lists both nationally and abroad. Principal commissions include those from the California Band Director’s Association, the Chicago Public School Bureau for Cultural Arts, the South Plains college Dept. of Fine arts and the Texas University Interscholastic League.

He is a consistent winner of the ASCAP1us award and a two-time recipient of the Forrest L. Buchtel Citation for Excellence in Composition. In 2014, he was recognized by the Texas Bandmasters Association as the featured composer, and he was named distinguished alumnus by his alma mater. Professional memberships include ASCAP, the American Composers Forum and the TMEA. Silversides, subtitled “To answer the call,” pays a programmatic homage to the U.S.S Silversides, one of the most successful submarines in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Commissioned into action shortly after the bombings of Pearl Harbor, it ran fourteen war patrols, and had a long post-war life as a training vessel for Naval Reservists in Chicago. It now is the centerpiece for the Great Lakes Naval Memorial and Museum in Muskegon, MI.

Symphony in Blue and Gold

Erika Svanoe

Symphony in Blue and Gold was commissioned to celebrate the 100th anniversary of bands at my alma mater, the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire.

As a starting point, I researched and studied two significant pieces in wind band literature that were composed around the time the band was first formed on campus. These were La création du monde (1923) by Darius Milhaud and Rhapsody in Blue (1924) by George Gershwin, specifically the original dance band version orchestrated by Ferde Grofé. Both pieces use a combination of classical and jazz influences, and this felt very reflective of my own experience as a music student at UWEC. Overall, the piece uses a modified four-movement symphony plan. The first movement, "Blues and Fugues," alternates a standard 12-bar blues with two four-voice fugues. The opening tenor saxophone solo presents the UWEC melodic material that appears throughout all four movements. The second movement, "in Gold," focuses on timbres played by metallic instruments and introduces the other main melodic material, which musically spells out BLUGLD. The third movement is a waltz and the final movement, "Finale," expands and combines material from the previous three movements.

I am so honored to have the opportunity to write Symphony in Blue and Gold for a place where I had so much musical and personal growth. I truly took this opportunity to heart, and tried to grow my own compositional voice and craft while writing this piece as a tribute to a place that was so important in my educational journey.

Program Note by Erika Svanoe