SE Concert Programs 2026

Sound Ecologies Presents:

Heewon Jeon - Cello Pianist, Charissa Garrigus world premieres by Luke Garrigus & Matthew Rhoad

Sunday, January 18th, 2026 11:15 a.m., University Heights UMC

Program Prinyatiye

Matthew Rhoad

Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009 I. Prélude II. Allemande IV. Sarabande

J.S. Bach

Suite No. 1 for Solo Cello

Max Reger

Sonata for Solo Cello I. Dialogo II. Capriccio

György Ligeti

Heewon Jeon, Cello Winterwinds

Luke Garrigus

J.S. Bach

Arioso Heewon Jeon, Cello - Charissa Garrigus, piano

Sound Ecologies Presents:

Pianists Charissa Garrigus & Brenna Green with music by: Funkhouser, Rhoad, Callen, Berners, Janácek, Sage, & Owen

Tuesday, February 17th, 2026 7p.m., University Heights UMC

Program Lilac Field

Rob Funkhouser

Piano Duet No. 1

Matthew Rhoad

Brenna Green and Charissa Garrigus, Piano On an Overgrown Path Leos Janácek 1. Naše večery (Our Evenings) (1900) 2. Lístek odvanutý (A Blown-Away Leaf) (1900) 3. Pojďte s námi! (Come With Us!) (1908) 4. Frýdecká panna Maria (The Madonna of Frydek) (1900) 5. Štěbetaly jak laštovičky (They Chattered Like Swallows) (1911) Brenna Green, Piano John Berners

Zoot Suite 1. Rag Nocturne Charissa Garrigus, Piano Three Thousand Overgrown Christmas Trees

Carly Sage

Brenna Green, Piano Morfydd Owen

The Passing of Branwen Tall-y-llyn Maida Vale Charissa Garrigus, Piano

Ian Callen

Fish to Birds Brenna Green and Charissa Garrigus, Piano

Notes on the Program Each work performed in today’s concert reflects different interpretations, understandings, and imaginings of what ‘home’ truly is. To some, it may be a place, a space, or a country. To others, it’s people, nature, or many other things. As you listen to this evening’s music, we invite you to consider what ‘home’ means to you. Thank you for joining us!

Lilac Field is the second in a series of still life pieces for Brenna and Charissa on piano. In this piece, I am reflecting on my recent journey to make my house a home by decluttering, organizing, and looking for the most peaceful use of the space. To me, home is a place you want to share with others and fill with the warmth of shared experience and memory. Much like still life painting, I think of these pieces as portraits of spaces that I like to occupy, and invite the performers and audience to occupy them with me. So come on in, make yourself comfortable, and relax in the space created in the performance. ~ Rob Funkhouser Piano Duet No. 1 can be seen as a representation of the inner turmoil of an introvert's desire to be loved and accepted while also wishing to be alone. In their mind, they are left alone at home, however they are alone at home.

The beginning and end of the piece represent the suffocating calmness of being at home alone with nothing but your thoughts to accompany you and the negativity that piles up with an idle mind. The middle and faster parts of the piece can be a representation of either the introvert's experience in social scenarios or simply their fears of what could happen if they decide to come out of their home and attempt to build connections with his fellow man. The piece can be viewed as a representation of how Home is all some people have. It's the one place they have that is comfortable to them. However, without anybody to share it with, it can feel like a prison of their own making. ~ Matthew Rhoad In 1897, the Czech composer Leos Janácek was asked to contribute a group of arrangements of Moravian folk songs which would be published in a magazine entitled Slovanské melodie ('Slovakian Melodies'). These were to be for harmonium, a common instrument in Moravia at that time and much used by schoolteachers. Janácek contributed three pieces in 1901 and a further two the following year — these were mood pieces in a folk style rather than arrangements of existing melodies. The overall title of the collection refers to a Moravian wedding song "the path to my mother's home has become overgrown with clover." The pieces, as Janácek wrote in 1908 to a musicologist interested in publishing them, "contain distant reminiscences. Those reminiscences are so dear to me that I do not think they will ever vanish." By the time On An Overgrown Path was finally published as a piano cycle in 1911, Janácek was in relative obscurity and approaching his fifties. Three of the pieces chosen from the cycle refer to scenes from his childhood in Moravia: No. 1. “Our Evenings,” reflects nights by the fireside; No. 3. “Come with Us!,” is a spritely dance that gleams with childhood merriment; and No. 4. “The Madonna of Frydek,” (Frydek was a town in Moravia near Janácek's birthplace of Hukvaldy) contains solemn organ-like chords posed against a pastoral melody - a motif sung by a far-off religious procession honoring the Virgin Mary. The other two pieces, No. 2 “A Blown-Away Leaf” reads as a forgotten love letter, and No. 5 “They Chattered Like Swallows” captures the excited talk of villagers, while also serving as a close imitation of the restless birdsong of the swallow. ~ Brenna Green Zoot Suite came about at the request of pianist Alan Huckleberry, who was preparing a program featuring piano rags of William Albright and William Bolcom. Since I had studied with both of these composers, Alan asked me to write a new piece with American influences, a piece that showed where a younger composer might go with the American vernacular tradition. The first movement, ‘Rag Nocturne,’ is a slow dance with just a bit of rag syncopation. Maybe because I was studying the piano music of Satie at the time, it came out sounding a little French. ~ John Berners

In December of 1991, my parents bought their home. It was a fully operational Christmas tree farm with 3,000 small pine trees planted on 3 acres. My parents were 22 at the time with a 2 month old baby. They had no intention of running a Christmas tree farm, so the trees were left to grow. When planted, they were never meant to get much taller than 7 feet. As my brother and I grew up, so did the trees. They were planted too close together, so before long, the bottoms of the pine trees had grown into each other, causing the bottom of the trees to die. We spent most of our childhood playing outside in the yard, climbing these trees, and making memories. My parents still live there and the trees are still there, too. I have so many memories of that yard, with those trees in the background, from childhood to adulthood. This piece is an homage to that space. The comfort of being surrounded by trees, their strength, the stillness that they hold, the imprint that they left on me, and their part in creating my love of nature that I hold in my adult life. They were still and calm in the wintertime, and they swayed with the wind in the summer with a slight creak as they moved. I know that I am home when I am surrounded by overgrown Christmas trees. ~ Carly Sage I discovered the music of Morfydd Owen while presenting a paper at my first musicology conference a few years ago. While there, I had the privilege of hearing a paper read by a professor from the University of Cardiff in Wales. His talk centered on the essence of Welsh music, and he played some examples of music written by Welsh composers including Morfydd Owen. A fantastic pianist, vocalist, and composer who tragically died at only 26, her works for piano are beautifully written and delightfully fun to play. These pieces reflect both early twentieth century nostalgia for the past and the emerging love of dissonance favored by many composers of the time period. To me, these works share Owen’s love for her home country and the wistfulness and melancholy she felt when leaving it for England. The Passing of Branwen is an orchestral sketch that originated as this piece for piano. It appears to be incidental music for a larger work that Owen did not have the chance to complete. My guess is that it is a reference to a folktale regarding the Welsh goddess Branwen and her tragic death. In the story, Branwen is betrothed to an Irish king. Her marriage, however, results in war and discord which causes the deaths of a great number of people including her brother Bran. At the end of the story, Branwen dies of grief.

As in much Celtic mythology, Branwen’s character is deeply tied to the landscape–her name itself means “white crow.” There are, in fact, still remnants of a ruined Bronze age cairn called Bedd Branwen, that is said to be the resting place of Branwen. Tal-y-llyn (pronounced tal-uh-hleen) is a small village in Wales. Situated on a large lake and surrounded by green hillsides, this area is also home to its own railway. I think Owen perfectly captures the beauty of the landscape along with the business of the trains in this short work. Listen for the waves on the lake, and the rumbling of the railway cars as they steam to a stop. Maida Vale is based upon a neighborhood of the same name in London. Owen had rooms in this area, which is very picturesque, during her time studying at the Royal Academy of Music. Maida Vale is known for its green spaces, canals, and artistic residents. Its reputation as a destination for creatives was in full swing when Owen moved there in the early 1910s. While living in this apartment, Owen wrote several significant works including Slumber Song of the Madonna, one of her more well-known pieces. To me, this work reflects the beauty of a busy London afternoon. I can hear the hustle and bustle of streets coming through an open window, the gentle lap of the canal water, and even a soft breeze rustling the leaves of nearby trees. The piece itself ends with an inscription: 12 December 1912, 69 Sutherland Avenue, Maida Vale. ~ Charissa Garrigus Fish to Birds takes its name from M.C. Escher’s “Sky and Water,” an image my first composition teacher, Dr. Jonathan Brooks, used to talk about transitions—how one idea can gradually become another without a clear point of separation. I’ve always liked how the image feels settled even as it changes. That balance is what I associate with home: not something fixed or concrete, but something that gives a sense of orientation as things shift around us. This piece follows that idea, letting material transform while staying secure and rooted. ~ Ian Callen

Sound Ecologies Presents:

New Music for String Quartet Annie Donato, Violin Jonathan Johnson, Violin John Qualkenbush, Viola Heewon Jeon, Cello Monday, March 16th, 2026 7p.m., University Heights UMC

Concert Program

Watercolors for String Quartet (no. 1)

Feywild Forest

Catherine Hoelscher

Christian Miller

Back Porch Breakdown

D.S. Isaac

Unfurl

Logan Purcell

Gravel

Luke Garrigus

Rob Funkhouser

Lay Me To Rest I. When the Noise Subsides II. Growing Silence

Annie Donato, Violin Jonathan Johnson, Violin John Qualkenbush, Viola Heewon Jeon, Cello

Sound Ecologies Presents:

D.S. Isaac Composition Recital Joseph Jones, Classical Guitar Natalie Isaac, Piano & Organ Darrin Isaac, Voice Charissa Garrigus, Piano Saturday, April 11th, 2026 1p.m., University Heights UMC

Concert Program Set Me as a Seal yes is a pleasant country The Heart of the Matter

D. S. Isaac

Darrin Isaac, Voice Natalie Isaac, Piano

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

D. S. Isaac

Darrin Isaac, Voice Joseph Jones, Guitar

Sonata for a Gentleman I. Sonata para un gentilhombre II. Pax III. Drive

D. S. Isaac

Meditations for Organ Meditation in G Meditation in D Meditation in C Natalie Isaac, Organ

D. S. Isaac

Hope

D. S. Isaac

Joseph Jones, Guitar

Charissa Garrigus, Piano

Fantasia for Guitar and Piano

D. S. Isaac

Joseph Jones, Guitar Natalie Isaac, Piano

The World is Better That I Lived

D. S. Isaac

Sound Ecologies Presents:

Chamber Music Recital Logan Purcell, Cameron Storey and The Quartet Collective

Sunday, May 17th, 2026 3 p.m., University Heights UMC

Program Deep Calls to Deep

Amanda S. Cameron Storey - Oboe

Box Turtle

Logan Purcell

The Reeds at Eagle Creek Part I: reeds in cool shade Part II: reeds against the sun Part III: in the shade and darkness

John Berners

Green and White

Logan Purcell

Mango Margarita at the Art Museum (Hell Yeah)

Luke Garrigus

Cameron Storey - Oboe, Logan Purcell - Guitar

Hydrangea

Luke Garrigus

rote

John Qualkenbush

rebirth: an eternal grove

Tyler Kline

platforms

Susanna Hancock

Lay Me to Rest When the Noise Subsides Glowing Silence

Rob Funkhouser

The Quartet Collective Annie Donato, Jonathan Johnson - Violins, Rachel Gries - Viola, Ryan Wombles - Cello