Pacific Wind Bands 02-24-2024

Pacific Wind Bands Vu Nguyen, conductor Jonathan Latta, guest conductor Sophia Rechel, graduate assistant conductor Kevin Bobo, composer-in-residence and marimba

Saturday, February 24, 2024 7:30 pm Faye Spanos Concert Hall

69TH PERFORMANCE OF 2023–24 ACADEMIC YEAR

FEBURARY 24, 2024, 7:30 PM Radiance (2024) (World Premiere)*

Alayna Ontai ’26 (b. 2004)

James Syler (b. 1961)

Congo Square (2014) Jonathan Latta, guest conductor

Vulnerable Joy (2022)

Jodie Blackshaw (b. 1971)

Sophia Rechel, graduate assistant conductor

Architecture of a Dream (2016)

Kevin Bobo (b. 1974)

Kevin Bobo, marimba

*Winner of Pacific Wind Bands' Call for Scores View a digital version of this program at issuu.com/MusicatPacific.

PROGRAM NOTES Ontai: Radiance Alayna Ontai ’26 is pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree in music composition at University of the Pacific.

Ontai’s first exposure to and interest in composing came at a young age while watching her musician father write music of his own. As time progressed, she began learning the trumpet and started experimenting with music composition.

Radiance is her first large ensemble work to be premiered and it is the winner of Pacific Wind Bands’ Call for Scores. Her other works performed so far are a piano trio entitled Autumn Breeze and a brass quintet entitled Aeirs, with more works on the way.

As a trumpet player, Ontai plays in Pacific Wind Bands and has performed in many events on campus. She also is a member of the Azores Band of Escalon, a locally based ensemble that performs a wide variety of music ranging from marches and pasodobles to standard concert band repertoire. The Azores Band has performed throughout California and recently traveled to the Azores islands, Portugal, to play in concerts and festivals. In April, Ontai is scheduled to perform with the Azores Band for their 44th anniversary.

Note by the composer Like light, Radiance is a complex blend of shadows and brightness. It begins with an uplifting light melody that floats, and slowly grows to become more focused. It continues to build until the light casts a “shadow.” The second theme presents itself as heavy and dark as the piece continues to push forward. This second theme is a complete contrast to the original much like light and dark. The “dark” theme has more intense and heavy undertones and presents itself as powerful and strong. If you listen to the introduction and the beginning you will hear an emphasis on woodwinds and melodic percussion, and then as it moves into the second theme the emphasis shifts to brass and rhythmic percussion. As the piece winds down the two contrasting ideas merge to become one delicate yet powerful combination of shadow and light.

Syler: Congo Square James Syler was born in Hyde Park, New York, and raised in New York and Florida. He was educated at Northern Illinois University (B.M.), the University of Miami (M.M.), and the University of Texas at Austin. He has studied composition privately with composers Alfred Reed, Karl Korte, and Pulitzer prizewinner Michael Colgrass. Equally featuring modern and traditional

PROGRAM NOTES techniques, his compositions have been noted for their lyricism, energy, and drama. He has developed a personal style that is eclectic and innovative yet able to communicate with a variety of audiences.

Syler's works have been performed throughout the world. International performances include those with the Chinese Youth Choir, State Symphonic Band of Saõ Paulo (Brazil), Lisbon Portugal Jazz Festival, Symphonic Wind Orchestra Mittelbaden of Germany, McGill University Wind Ensemble in Montreal (Canada), and more. Other notable performances include the premiere of his Symphony No. 1, “Blue,” for soprano chorus, and wind ensemble at Carnegie Hall and performances for and by the Bridge Chamber Music Festival, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, New York Choral Festival at Lincoln Center, Turtle Island String Quartet, Henry Mancini Institute in California, Tanglewood Institute in Massachusetts, Interlochen Arts Academy, and Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival.

Winning of numerous grants and awards, Syler has held more than 35 guest composer residencies at colleges and universities in the United States, Canada, and Brazil. To date he has completed more than thirty commissions in chamber, choral, orchestral, and wind ensemble forms. He has been featured in numerous articles, dissertations, and books including A Composer’s Insight: Thoughts, Analysis and Commentary on Contemporary Masterpieces for Wind Band published by Meredith Music.

Note by the composer New Orleans was founded by the French in 1718. Shortly thereafter, the first generation of enslaved arrived. By 1817 a city ordinance was passed confining Sunday slave celebrations to one location—a public space called Congo Square. Throughout its history Congo Square was also the site of public executions, a whipping post, and the buying and selling of slaves. It is a place of conflicting emotions and multilayered meanings. Another often overlooked reality is the influence of mixed race Creole musicians in New Orleans and Congo Square. During the early 1800s, music in New Orleans was often described as more Caribbean than African. This unique mix of African, Creole, and Caribbean is what I've tried to internalize as I wrote Congo Square.

The antiphonal flugelhorn is heard in the beginning and throughout the work as a kind of warning, similar in sound and meaning to the ancient blasts of the temple shofar. The African drum quartet represents the West African influence.

It begins by quoting an authentic Konkoba war dance in 3/4. The polyrhythms of the quartet grow in intensity. The middle section quotes “Salangadou,” an

PROGRAM NOTES old Creole song about a mother in search of her abducted child. Near the end of the work an early jazz style song emerges in a stomp style as the drummer plays a traditional New Orleans “Second Line” style groove, both of which suggest the new music that will eventually grow out of Congo Square. These three musics—the African drums, a Creole song, and early jazz styles—overlap and sound at the same time to produce the emotional zenith of the work.

From the point of view of the past, we hear that past, its present, and future music simultaneously. My hope is that it will produce a reflective moment that gives the listener a deeper understanding of the multi layered realities of Congo Square. The music was completed in November 2014.

Blackshaw: Vulnerable Joy Jodie Blackshaw grew up in the southeast of rural Australia and formed a very personal relationship with music early in life through the creative application of her imagination to musical colors and movement. Today, she continues to seek creative experiences for students through her teaching and composing so they, too, may enjoy the personal relationship she discovered in her formative years. This includes the launching of her very own four-volume series Teaching Performance through Composition.

In 2020 Blackshaw completed her PhD in composition at the Australian National University. In addition to composing and presenting music education workshops, Blackshaw is passionate about fostering equality in concert programs, especially in schools. In 2017 she founded the Female Band Composer database, and in 2018 Blackshaw founded the website colourfullmusic.com in response to a panel presentation she curated for the Midwest Clinic entitled “Directors for Diversity.”

Blackshaw has thrice presented at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago (2012, 2014, 2018) as well as conducted residencies and/or conference presentations in the Middle East, Hong Kong, and throughout Canada, Australia, and the United States. In 2006 she won the inaugural Frank Ticheli Composition Contest and was the BandQuest composer-in-residence in 2014. In June 2022 Blackshaw launched her “Conservation Series,” an infinitely growing set of works that raises both funds and awareness surrounding climate change and endangered species. Artistic Citizenship is an important component of Blackshaw’s compositions as she believes this enables students of all ages to become more emotionally engaged with their approach to music performance.

Note by the composer Vulnerable Joy is inspired by the self-sacrifice, commitment, and humility of the mother Humpback whale. As a mammal, baleen whale, she grows

PROGRAM NOTES to approx. 16 meters (52 feet) and lives at the ocean’s surface in order to breathe. She travels up to 6,500 kilometers (approx. 4,000 miles) from her feeding ground to birth her calf in warmer tropical waters. Once she leaves the feeding grounds of Antarctica or the cooler oceans of the Northern Hemisphere, she will not feed again until she returns some eight to nine months later. All the while, she nurses her newborn calf with up to 600 liters (132 gallons) of milk per day.

In realizing the enormity of this feat, my mind turned to the whales who are closest to me, those who migrate along the East coast of Australia from Tonga to Antarctica. I imagined the sheer relief she must feel in that moment when the cool waters of the Southern Ocean rub her skin for the first time.

She is tired and hungry but in that moment (in my imagination), I feel her joy, her intense, overwhelming joy.

During the opening and closing of the performance, you may hear the instrumentalists murmuring some words. This “chant” is made up of word fragments from eight different languages. The fragments come from translations of the following words/phrases: “Welcome,” “Peace be with you,” “Live long and prosper,” “Love.” The color and beauty of these translated words has been used not to create a direct translation of these English phrases, but to provide a link between the humpback whales’ intelligent communication capability and our inability to understand them. For if we could, I feel sure they would be sending us a very clear message: Please allow us to live our lives in peace, love, prosperity, and beautiful, awe-inspiring, vulnerable joy. ­ Bobo: Architecture of a Dream For the composer's biography please see “Artist Biographies.”

Note by the composer I have always been fascinated by dreams. I find it interesting that whereas I can vividly recall many dreams (even ones I had as a small child), other times I can awake from a nightmare and remember few specifics about what happened. Whether my dreams are memorable or forgettable, they all share one thing in common: I can never remember how they begin. This makes me wonder about how many other details go missing during the night.

Though Architecture of a Dream is not based on any specific dream, it is meant to capture the bizarre twists and turns that dreams often take. I imagine it would be quite an amazing experience to take control of a dream and create a world without rules, boundaries, or consequences. Personally, I wouldn't mind vacationing there.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES Kevin Bobo, composer-in-residence and marimba artist, is professor of percussion at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, a position he has held since 2007. Prior to his appointment at IU, he served as assistant professor of percussion at the University of Kansas (2003—07). He studied percussion with J. C. Combs and Gordon Stout, and composition with Greg Woodward and Dana Wilson.

Internationally respected as a solo marimba artist, Bobo has performed on five continents. His travels have taken him to Taiwan, Singapore, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Australia, Spain, Latvia, Lithuania, France, Italy, the Czech Republic, and nearly forty states in the United States.

As a composer, Bobo has had his compositions performed all over the world, with his solo works frequently appearing on international competition repertoire lists. He has authored two method books and composed numerous pieces for a variety of instruments and ensembles.

Bobo currently lives in Bloomington, Indiana, with his wife, Emily, and their children, Penelope and Eli. Jonathan Latta '00, guest conductor, has been at University of the Pacific since 2014 in administrative and faculty positions. During this time he has maintained an active performing career as a percussionist, having performed with the Stockton Symphony, Modesto Symphony, and Sacramento Philharmonic. He has also served as principal for the Music in the Mountains Festival Orchestra in Durango, Colorado. Prior to moving to California in 2014, Latta was director of percussion studies for six years at Fort Lewis College in Durango, teaching applied percussion, percussion ensemble, non-Western music, orchestration, and jazz. Latta was chair of the University Pedagogy Committee for the Percussive Arts Society (PAS) for six years and also was a member of the PAS Education Committee.

From 2002 to 2006, Latta was a member of the United States Air Force Band of the Golden West, performing in over three hundred performances on percussion/timpani for the Concert Band, drum set for the Commanders Jazz Ensemble, marching percussion for the Ceremonial Band, and drum

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES set for the Golden West Dixie Ramblers. These performances included the 2003 Tournament of Roses Parade, the 2004 Sacramento Jazz Jubilee, and the interment of former President Ronald W. Reagan. Latta has performed as a chamber musician in the Durango Chamber Music Festival, the Animas Music Festival, and at the Percussive Arts Society International Conference.

In 2019 Latta performed as a soloist at Carnegie Hall with the University of the Pacific Symphonic Wind Ensemble.

Vu Nguyen '00, conductor, is an associate professor of music and director of bands at University of the Pacific. He conducts Pacific Wind Bands and teaches courses in conducting and music education. Nguyen maintains an active schedule as a clinician and has served as guest conductor with military bands as well as honor bands across the country. Ensembles under his direction have performed at state music educator conferences, at the Midwest Clinic, and at the College Band Directors National Association Conference.

A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Nguyen holds degrees in conducting from the University of Washington and the University of Oregon. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in music education from University of the Pacific.

Prior to his appointment at Pacific, he served in similar roles at the University of Connecticut, University of Indianapolis, and Washington University in St. Louis in addition to being a visiting conductor with the Indiana University Concert Band. He began his teaching career in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District. In addition to his academic career, Nguyen recently retired as an officer in the Air National Guard (ANG) where he was the commander and conductor of the ANG Band of the West Coast.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES Sophia Rechel is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree in music education at University of the Pacific and she expects to graduate in May 2024. As a graduate assistant, she helps with courses in music education and works with undergraduates in the classroom and fieldwork to develop and refine their teaching practices. She works closely with Ruth Brittin (music education) and Vu Nguyen (wind band and conducting) while continuing to hone her clarinet playing as a student of Patricia Shands.

Rechel earned her undergraduate degrees in music performance and music education from University of Arizona, where she studied with clarinetists Jerry Kirkbride and Jackie Glazier.

Rechel is a dedicated music educator who has taught elementary music and beginning band for four years, first in Tucson, Arizona, and then in Amador County, California. She is working hard to develop a fine arts program to make music education more accessible to young musicians in her community. In addition to her teaching and graduate assistant responsibilities, Rechel is an active musician who plays in community ensembles and occasionally with the Folsom Lake Symphony.

PACIFIC WIND BANDS The Pacific Wind Bands include students who represent music majors, minors, and non-majors from across Pacific. The ensemble performs at least four concerts each academic year. It provides students the opportunity to play a broad range of music for winds, brass, percussion, and keyboards drawn from a repertoire that honors the rich history of the past and looks to the future, ranging from chamber to full wind band instrumentation. Recent premieres and collaborations with composers include Viet Cuong, Kevin Day, Marie Douglas, Catherine Likhuta, Giovanni Santos, Alex Shapiro, Ingrid Stölzel, and James Syler.

Flutes Grace Coon Jessica Jenkins Bobby Singh Jasmine Valentine

Saxophones Hannah Estrella Tristan McMichael Marcus Rudes Kyle Saelee

Euphonium Victor Alcaraz

Oboes Alice Chao Sofie Tai Emily Zamudio

Horns Mary Denney Edgar Leyva Jasmin Lopez Don Parker

Bass Joshua Gutierrez

Clarinets Damien Burgos Kyle Chang Audrey Ewing Kaitlyn Ferreira Jordan Mabutas Sophia Rechel Joseph Schwarz Andrew Seaver Samuel Vu Bassoons Owen McCarthy Nadege Tenorio Jordan Wier

Trumpets Parker Deems Keagan Low Alayna Ontai Kamron Qasimi Yukina Shimokawa Aiden Webbe Trombones Aparna Balaji Bronson Burfield Matthew Miramontes Seth Neves

Tuba Alejandro Villalobos

Percussion Leonard Cox Daniel Lopez Maddie Karzin Casey Kim Matthew Kulm Robert McCarl Aiden Valdez Jenna Williamson Emily Winsatt Piano Magdalene Myint

PACIFIC WIND BANDS Pacific Faculty Coaches Brittany Trotter, flutes Kyle Bruckmann, oboes Patricia Shands, clarinets Ricardo Martinez, saxophones Nicolasa Kuster, bassoons Sadie Glass, horns Leonard Ott, trumpets Bruce Chrisp, low brass Jonathan Latta, percussion Sonia Leong, piano Kathryn Schulmeister, bass Jonathan Latta, ensembles program director Breanna Daley, ensemble librarian

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Coming soon . . .

Mar. 1, 7:30 pm, Faye Spanos Concert Hall Pacific Jazz Ensemble Keith Brown, piano Mar. 5, 7:30 pm, Recital Hall Faculty Recital Sadie Glass, horn with Natalie Douglass Grana, horn Mar. 6, 7:00 pm and 8:30 pm, X-Space Gallery Faculty Recital Jonathan Latta, percussion

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