THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Music presents
University Wind Orchestra
Rodney Dorsey, Director
Jacquelyn Tabone, Graduate Conducting Associate
with special guest
Demondrae Thurman, Euphonium
Thursday, February 29, 2024
7:30 p.m. | Ruby Diamond Concert Hall
Festive Overture, Op. 96 (1954)
PROGRAM
Hydrostatics (2020)
“Heritage” Concerto for Euphonium and Band (2014)
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975)
arr. Donald Hunsberger
Roger Zare (b. 1985)
Anthony Barfield
I. Building the Egyptian Pyramids (b. 1983)
II. The Nile River
III. King Thutmose III
Anahita (2005)
Demondrae Thurman, euphonium
Roshanne Etezady
I. The Flight of the Night (b. 1973)
II. Night Mares
III. Sleep and Repose/The Coming of Light
Jacquelyn Tabone, graduate conducting associate
Theme and Variations, Op. 43a (1943)
INTERMISSION
Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (1923)
Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951)
John Phillip Sousa (1854–1932)
To Ensure An Enjoyable Concert Experience For All…
Please refrain from talking, entering, or exiting during performances. Food and drink are prohibited in all concert halls. Recording or broadcasting of the concert by any means, including the use of digital cameras, cell phones, or other devices is expressly forbidden. Please deactivate all portable electronic devices including watches, cell phones, pagers, hand-held gaming devices or other electronic equipment that may distract the audience or performers.
Recording Notice: This performance may be recorded. Please note that members of the audience may at times be included in this process. By attending this performance you consent to have your image or likeness appear in any live or recorded video or other transmission or reproduction made in conjunction to the performance.
Florida State University provides accommodations for persons with disabilities. Please notify the College of Music at (850) 644-3424 at least five working days prior to a musical event to request accommodation for disability or alternative program format.
ABOUT THE GUEST ARTIST
Over the last 25 years, Demondrae Thurman has established a worldwide reputation through his varied experiences as a euphonium soloist, educator, chamber musician, and conductor. He has given performances in Canada, Hungary, Japan, Hong Kong, Germany, France, Spain, Taiwan, Macau, Norway, China, Italy, Austria, England, Wales, and throughout the United States. Demondrae is a frequently invited guest at many of the world’s most noted festivals and conferences for Low Brass including the International Euphonium Tuba Conference, Jeju International Brass and Percussion Competition, the United States Army Band Tuba Euphonium Workshop, and the Leonard Falcone International Solo Competition.
Demondrae is known for his signature sound and overt musicality. Maestro Gerard Schwarz, Music Director of the Eastern Music Festival and the All Star Orchestra says, “When he plays, he’s speaking his own euphonium language, part singer, tenor and baritone, and part remarkable brass player. He sings on his instrument and reaches everyone in his audience. His technique seems flawless and his phrasing is remarkable.” As an advocate of new music, Demondrae has commissioned or premiered several works for euphonium, including In Memorium for Euphonium and Band by Maestro Schwarz, the Heritage Concerto for Euphonium and Band by Anthony Barfield, Fantasy for Euphonium Orchestra, and Soliloquies for Unaccompanied Euphonium by John Stevens. In 2020, Demondrae was featured two separate times on American Public Media’s Performance Today hosted by Fred Child. During his 22-23 performance season, he gave the world premiere of the orchestra version of the Barfield concerto with the Bozeman Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Norman Huynh and the orchestra version of In Memorium at the Eastern Music Festival with Maestro Grant Cooper.
Demondrae is often given the opportunity to perform orchestral repertoire that calls for euphonium and bass trumpet. He has performed with many of the finest orchestras in the United States including the Atlanta Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic, Oregon Symphony, Eastern Music Festival Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra as well as the 2016 Summer Season with the New Philharmonic under the leadership of Maestro Alan Gilbert. Anu Tali, former Music Director of the Sarasota Orchestra and the Nordic Symphony Orchestra says, “Demondrae’s warm sound combined with artistic flexibility is every orchestra’s and conductor’s dream.” Demondrae has also performed under the baton of Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Donald Runnicles, Robert Spano, Gerard Schwarz, Andrew Litton, Edo de Waart, and Carlos Kalmar.
Chamber Music is an integral component of Demondrae’s career. Has performed on euphonium and trombone with the National Brass Ensemble, Summit Brass, Philadelphia Big Brass, Dallas Brass, and the Youngblood Brass Bandbut his most celebrated collaboration is as first euphonium with the Sotto Voce Quartet. Sotto Voce is responsible for changing the direction and perception of the tuba-euphonium quartet through its performance quality, selfgenerated repertoire, and studio recordings. Especially noted for its performance of “in-house” compositions and arrangements, mostly by tubist and composer Mike Forbes, Sotto Voce has overcome the “omm-pah” implications that come with low brass instruments. Edward Forstman of Arts Bham writes, “... the players summoned tones that would have sounded right for string instruments or vocal ensembles.” In addition to playing concerts as a part of major concert series and university settings, live performances are frequently heard on Performance Today. Demondrae also plays Baritone horn in the Brass Band of Battle Creek, an all-star brass and percussion ensemble.
Demondrae has released three solo recordings, all of which have received stellar reviews. His latest album, Snapshots, received the Silver Medal for Best Album by Global Music Awards. In March of 2021, Demondrae will release his fourth solo effort with Prima Classic entitled Sound and Light. The Sotto Voce quartet has four studio recordings in addition to a live performance recording from the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, the most prominent music educator’s conference in the United States. Demondrae can also be heard on recordings with the Temptations, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Brass Band of Battle Creek, Saint Louis Low Brass Collective, and the Isthmus Brass.
Conducting has become an important aspect of Demondrae’s career since making his debut in 1999. Since that time, he has appeared as a guest conductor with numerous wind bands, brass bands, and symphony orchestras. His symphony orchestra debut came in 2008 conducting Scheherazade by Rimsky Korsakov with the Huxford Symphony Orchestra of the University of Alabama where he also served as its conductor from 2011-2013. He is the former Resident Assistant Conductor of the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra (Alabama) where he conducted children’s concerts and Pops programs.
Currently, Demondrae is Professor of Music and Chair of the Brass Department at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. The position was created for him to utilize his specific skills and expertise in euphonium and brass chamber music. He is also serves on the faculty of Samford University and has given masterclasses and clinics at many of the world’s leading colleges and universities for low brass.
Demondrae is a Miraphone Performing Artist and plays exclusively the Miraphone 5050 Ambassador Edition euphonium which was designed specifically for him. He also plays the custom Demondrae model mouthpiece manufactured by Warburton Music Products and is a Shires Trombone Performing Artist.
NOTES ON THE PROGRAM
Shostakovich: Festive Overture
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) was a Russian composer publishing works between 1924 and 1970. His music has been viewed as controversial and celebratory of the political environment in which it was written. The music he wrote throughout his life was a window into his life and history. Parallels between his music and his life can be drawn throughout his career. While his most popular works include 15 symphonies and 15 string quartets, he has written extensively for piano, two operas, six concertos, and a substantial quantity of film music.
Festive Overture (1954) was composed in 1954 to commemorate the 37th anniversary of the Russian October Revolution of 1917. This piece showcases Shostakovich’s ability to write long melodic lines, beginning with the sounds of triumphant trumpets and roaring brass and then giving way to energetic melodic lines.
Zare: Hydrostatics
Roger Zare (b. 1985) has written for a wide variety of ensembles, from solo instruments to full orchestra. His compositions are often inspired by science, mathematics, literature, and mythology. An award-winning composer, Zare has received the ASCAP Nissim Prize, three BMI Student Composer Awards, an ASCAP Morton Gould award, a New York Youth Symphony First Music Commission, and many other honors. Zare holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts (2012) from the University of Michigan, a Master of Music (2009) from the Peabody Conservatory
of Music, and a Bachelor of Music (2007) from the University of Southern California. Currently, Zare is serving as an assistant professor of music at the Hayes School of Music at Appalachian State University. Zare was previously an instructional assistant professor of theory and composition at Illinois State University.
Hydrostatics (2020) The music opens with an explosion of tension between the instruments of the ensemble. Slow, straining glissandos in the brass bend one pitch into another to create thick and clashing harmonies. Eventually, this texture yields quick and more rhythmically oriented music. Underpinned with a constant flow of repeated notes, aggressive gestures made of similarly dense harmonies as heard in the first section sporadically rise and fall, with pointed and uneasy percussive interjections. At a clearing in the texture, a solo horn states the piece’s first melody, bringing together a series of gestural fragments from earlier in the music into a declamatory statement. As the pressure builds, a persistent high trumpet note emerges and is accompanied by a series of cataclysmic outbursts that represent the strength of water’s immutability.
Barfield: Heritage Concerto
Anthony Barfield (b. 1983) is an Emmy-nominated composer and multi-platinum producer based in New York City. Known for his lyrical writing style, his compositions have been performed throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Barfield has collaborated with esteemed ensembles including The United States Marine Band “President’s Own” and has showcased his talents at prominent events such as the Midwest Band Clinic and multiple College Bandmasters National Association conferences. Anthony released his first composition album in the fall of 2013 titled, Chapter II, with The University of Alabama Wind Ensemble. Anthony studied composition with C.P. First with additional coaching from Thomas Cabaniss, Avner Dorman, and Nils Vigeland. Anthony holds degrees in trombone performance from the Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music and is on Faculty at Boston Conservatory at Berklee.
Heritage (2014) is based on ancient Egyptian Culture. The three movements; Building the Egyptian Pyramids, The Nile River, and King Thutmose III follow the traditional concerto form. Heritage is a tribute to Barfield’s African American heritage with the experiences of growing up in the southern US. Throughout the piece, there are hints of spirituals and hip-hop written in the spirit of no holding back and writing expressively. The second movement is an example of Barfield showcasing memories of growing up in the church with soulful melodic lines. Commissioned by Don Winston and Chashama for Demondrae Thurman, this work was premiered in October of 2014.
Etezady: Anahita
Roshanne Etezady (b. 1973) is an American composer and educator. Etezady holds academic degrees from Northwestern University and Yale University, and she has worked intensively with numerous composers, including William Bolcom, Martin Bresnick, Michael Daugherty, and Ned Rorem. She completed her doctorate at the University of Michigan in March 2005. Since then, Etezady’s works have been commissioned by the Albany Symphony, Dartmouth Symphony, Eighth Blackbird, Music at the Anthology, and the PRISM Saxophone Quartet. She has been a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. Etezady’s music has earned recognition from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Korean Society of 21st Century Music, the Jacob K. Javits Foundation, Meet the Composer, and ASCAP.
Anahita (2005) draws inspiration from photographs of The Flight of Night, completed in 1878 by the New England painter William Morris Hunt, located in the Assembly Chamber of the State Capitol Building in Albany, New York. The Flight of Night depicts the Zoroastrian Goddess of the Night, Anahita, driving her chariot westward, fleeing from the rising sun. Unfortunately, a “false” ceiling was erected to stop a leak and completely hide Hunt’s murals from sight. The first movement, The Flight of Night, is characterized by dramatic, aggressive gestures that are meant to evoke the terrifying beauty of the goddess herself. Movement two, Night Mares, is a scherzo-like movement that refers to the three monstrous horses that pull the chariot across the sky. In the final movement, Sleep and Repose/ The Coming of Light, we hear the gentler side of the night, with a tender lullaby that ends with trumpets heralding the dawn.
Shoenberg: Theme and Variations, Op. 43a
Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) is known for his composition that harnesses the intensification of harmonic eccentricity, formal complexity, and contrapuntal density of the twelve-tone method. His first acknowledged works date from the turn of the century and include the string sextet Verklärte Nacht as well as some songs, all showing influences from Brahms, Wagner, and Wolf. During 1901-1903 he was in as a teacher in Berlin and wrote the symphonic poem Pelleas und Melisande. He returned to Vienna and began taking private pupils such as Berg and Webern. In 1933, he left Berlin and moved to Paris. Later the same year, he arrived in the USA and settled in Los Angeles in 1934. It was there that he returned to tonal composition while developing serialism. In 1936, he began teaching at UCLA.
Theme and Variations, Op. 43a (1943) is one of the exceptions to Schoenberg’s famed twelve-tone style. In a 1944 letter to Fritz Reiner, he wrote:
...this is not one of my main works, as everybody can see, because it is not a composition with twelve tones. It is one of those compositions which one writes in order to enjoy one’s own virtuosity and, on the other hand, to give a certain group of music lovers – here it is the bands – something better to play. I can assure you – and I think I can prove it – technically this piece is a masterwork.
Schoenberg delineates each of the sections of the piece. Listen for the 21-measure theme as presented in the opening of the piece followed by seven variations of this theme. The original theme returns toward the end of the work, culminating in a subtle tip of the hat to George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
Sousa: Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (1923)
John Philip Sousa (1854-1932) was America’s best-known composer and conductor during his lifetime. Highly regarded for his military band marches, Sousa is often called the “The March King” or “American March King.” Sousa served as an apprentice in the U.S. Marine Band for seven years, until 1875, and learned to play all the wind instruments while also continuing with the violin. After a short time away, he returned to conduct the U.S. Marine Band in 1880 and remained as its conductor until 1892. He organized his own band the year he left the Marine Band. The Sousa Band toured 1892-1931, performing 15,623 concerts in America and abroad. The last piece he conducted was The Stars and Stripes Forever, his most famous work and the national march of the United States. He also wrote school songs for several American universities, including Kansas State University, Marquette University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Minnesota.
Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (1923) was written at the request of Sousa’s nephew, A. R. Varela, who was his sponsor when being inducted as a member of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine in Washington in April 1922. He was promptly named the first honorary director of the Almas Temple Shrine Band. The Shriners’ national convention was held in Washington in June 1923, and Sousa was called upon to lead a huge band of 6,200 Shriners in Griffith Stadium. This, incidentally, was the largest band Sousa ever conducted, and a new association with Shriners had just begun. Several Shrine bands accompanied the Sousa Band in performances of the new march as it toured the United States, and many additional appearances of the Sousa Band were arranged by Shriners. It is also noteworthy that in the last years of the Sousa Band, approximately half the members were Shriners.
Piccolo
Isabelle Rodriguez
Flute
Pamela Bereuter*
Steven Fireman
Adeline Belova
Rachael Lawson
Oboe
Abby Kothera*
Elijah Barrios*
Andy Swift
English Horn
Andy Swift
Bassoon
Cailin Mcgarry
Ryder Kaya
Contrabassoon
Carson Long
University Wind Orchestra Personnel
Rodney Dorsey, Director
Jacquelyn Tabone, Graduate Conducting Associate
E-Flat Clarinet
Brad Pilcher
B-Flat Clarinet
Anne Glerum*
Hannah Faircloth
Andrew Prawat
Travis Irizarry
Sadie Murray
Jalen Smalls
Jariel Santiago
Bass Clarinet
Josh Collins
Contrabass Clarinet
Jariel Santiago
Saxophone
Jason Shimer
Evan Blitzer
Micah Cheng
Ethan Horn
Trumpet/Cornet
Madison Barton*
Vito Bell
Vance Garven
Bob Kerr
Thana Rangsiyawaranon
Thum Rangsiyawaranon
Horn
Tommy Langston *
Ac Caruthers
Abby Odom
Clare Ottesen
Luis Oquendo
Trombone
Grant Keel
Will Roberts
Justin Hamann
Euphonium
Jonah Zimmerman*
Luke Heinrich
Tuba
Mike Anderson*
Charlie Nelson
Sebastian Bravo
String Bass
Max Levesque
Piano
Jackie Yong
Harp
Lauren Barfield
Percussion
Ryan Boehme*
JJ Baker
Jake Fenoff
Miranda Hughes
Drew Jungslager
Caitlin Magennis
Austin Pelella
Darci Wright
