WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9 at 7:30 p.m.
RAMSEY CONCERT HALL
UGA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER 230 RIVER RD, ATHENS, GA
Six Épigraphes Antiques
Amici e fiati
Wednesday, October 9, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.
Ramsey Concert Hall
UGA Performing Arts Center
Angela Jones-Reus, flute
with
Erica McClellan, piano
D. Ray McClellan, clarinet
Gabriella Mclellan, cello
PROGRAM
I. Pour invoquer Pan, dieu du vent d’été
II. Pour un tombeau sans nom
III. Pour que la nuit soit propice
IV. Pour la danseuse aux crotales
V. Pour l’Égyptienne
VI. Pour remercier la pluie au matin
La Presencias No. 7 “Rosita Iglesias”
Sinfonische Kanzone
Portraits of Langston for flute, clarinet and piano
I. Prelude: Helen Keller
IV. Silver Rain
VI. Harlem’s Summer Night
A Grainger Medley
I. Harvest Hymn
II. Walking Tune
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Carlos Guastavino (1912-2000)
Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877-1933)
Valerie Coleman (b.1970)
III. Near Woodstock Town (1882-1961) (Arr. D. Ray McClellan)
PROGRAM NOTES
Six Épigraphes Antiques is a suite of six pieces by Claude Debussy, originally written for piano duo completed in 1914. In 1915 Debussy transcribed them for piano solo. Much of the music is taken from the musical accompaniments he had written in 1901 for his friend Pierre Louÿs’s poems Les Chansons de Bilitis. The poems are about the fictional ancient Greek poetess Bilitis and her love affairs. In each of the six pieces in this set Debussy meditates on a wish, a prayer or a dedication such as those found in the epigraphs on the walls of ancient buildings or tombs and each reflects a different mood or emotion.
Pour invoquer Pan, dieu du vent d’été (“To invoke Pan, god of the summer wind”)
A description of pastoral life in the ancient world by invoking Pan, the god of the summer wind, who is heard playing his pan pipes as the piece opens. Used throughout is the pentatonic scale, neither major or minor, symbolizing the call of the natural world.
Pour un tombeau sans nom (“For a nameless tomb”)
A quizzical whole-tone scale, is used to summon up the mystery surrounding a Tomb without a name, its anonymous occupant mourned by the chromatic descent of distant voices.
Pour que la nuit soit propice (“In order that the night be propitious”)
A wish that the night may be propitious paints the silence of the night, and the various creatures moving about within it, in a richly layered texture of ostinato patterns and animal calls.
Pour la danseuse aux crotales (“For the dancer with crotales”)
A dancer with cymbals appears on the scene, her dainty steps and waving gestures imitated in graceful triplets while exuberant ornamentation conveys the sound of her instrument.
Pour l’égyptienne (“For the Egyptian woman”)
She is followed by the Egyptian woman, as dark and mysterious as the drone tones quietly drumming in the bass register. Sensuous, snaking lines of an oriental flavor, rich in augmented 2nds, accompany her lascivious movements
Pour remercier la pluie au matin (“To thank the morning rain”)
The final epigraph expresses a wish to thank the morning rain. It features a delicate imitation of raindrops in a constant patter of 16th notes that only ceases when the pan pipe melody that opened the work is recalled, marking the return of the sun.
Portraits of Langston
The early 1900’s was a new era for African-Americans. For the first time in American history, the disciplines of visual art, music, and literature simultaneously took a turn to celebrate African-American culture. As a result, the “Harlem Renaissance” was born. Langston Hughes was in the center of that cultural explosion, and like many African-
PROGRAM NOTES
Portraits of Langston cont.
American artists who lived in Harlem, Hughes had dreams of living in Europe - living a life unfettered from segregation. His poems are descriptive of the era, with references to particular settings and individuals that influenced him.
Prelude: Helen Keller
She, In the dark, Found light Brighter than many ever see. She, Within herself, Found loveliness, Through the soul’s own mastery. And now the world receives From her dower: The message of the strength Of inner power.
Mvt 4: In Time of Silver Rain
In time of silver rain
The earth puts forth new life again, Green grasses grow And flowers lift their heads, And over all the plain The wonder spreads
Of Life, Of Life, Of life!
In time of silver rain
The butterflies lift silken wings
To catch a rainbow cry, And trees put forth new leaves to sing In joy beneath the sky As down the roadway
Passing boys and girls
Go singing, too, In time of silver rain
When spring And life Are new.
PROGRAM NOTES
Mvt 6: Harlem Summer Night
The sounds
Of the Harlem night
Drop one by one into stillness.
The last player-piano is closed.
The last victrola ceases with the “Jazz Boy Blues.”
The last crying baby sleeps
And the night becomes Still as a whispering heartbeat.
I toss
Without rest in the darkness, Weary as the tired night,
My soul
Empty as the silence,
Empty with a vague, Aching emptiness, Desiring, Needing someone, Something.
I toss without rest
In the darkness
Until the new dawn, Wan and pale, Descends like a white mist
Into the court-yard.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
Angela Jones-Reus is currently Professor of Flute at the University of Georgia Hugh Hodgson School of Music. She is active as a soloist, chamber artist, orchestral player and teacher with appearances throughout the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom, Asia and South America.
Among Jones-Reus’ performances are a concert in Carnegie Hall with flutists Jean Pierre Rampal and Julius Baker, a London Debut Recital at St John’s Smith Square, a Japan tour as soloist with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and five performances— stepping in with one day’s notice—of the Jacques Ibert Flute Concerto with the San Remo Symphony Orchestra, Italy. She recently performed the Mozart Flute and Harp Concerto with Christina Smith (harpist, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra) with the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, where she also played as principal flutist for 16 years.
In 1991 Jones-Reus won the Principal Flute position of the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, Germany, where she played until 2000. She performed with this orchestra extensively throughout Europe, the United Kingdom, Japan, the United States and South America and can be heard on recordings on over 12 labels including EMI Classics, ECM Records, Koch International and Naxos. Her solo compact disc entitled Mostly French was recorded in Prague with I Virtuosi di Praga for the Koch International label.
Ms. Jones-Reus performed as a regular guest with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra from 1999-2019, including seven Carnegie Hall performances and a threeweek concert tour of Asia (China, Korea, Taiwan and Japan).
Jones-Reus holds degrees from the Juilliard School (MM) and the NC School of the Arts (BM) and was the sole recipient of the coveted Fulbright Scholarship to Italy in music.
Acclaimed for “a remarkable technique, tone and lyricism”, D. Ray McClellan is Professor of Clarinet at the University of Georgia, and a member of the Georgia Woodwind Quintet. Prior to his appointment at University of Georgia he held professorships at James Madison University and Henderson State University. Mr. McClellan is a former clarinetist and soloist with “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, he has appeared internationally in recitals and as concerto soloist in Canada, Taiwan, Japan, Italy, Brazil, Kenya, Tanzania and the Czech Republic.
McClellan has been principal clarinetist of The Savannah Orchestra, guest principal clarinetist with the Augusta Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Alexandria Symphony, and the Garden State Philharmonic and has performed with The Ying Quartet, the Nostich Quartet in the Czech Republic. Mr. McClellan performed recitals at the International Clarinet Convention in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010 and in 2014. He has recorded chamber music discs with ACA Digital and the Clarinet Concerto by Gerald Finzi with Phoenix USA. Many of his students occupy clarinet positions in orchestras, military bands and universities.
Erica McClellan works as a free-lance collaborative pianist and maintains a private piano studio. She holds degrees in piano performance from the Peabody Conservatory (MM), studying under Ann Schein, and from the University of Maryland (BM), studying under Ann Koscielny and Raymond Hanson. Before moving to Georgia, she taught piano at Ouachita Baptist University (AR), and accompanied faculty and students. She has served as principal pianist for both the Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir and the Georgia Children’s Chorus. Her solo performances have included recitals for the National Federation of Music Clubs National Convention, the Sigma Alpha Iota National Convention, the Arts Club of Washington (DC), the Pennsylvania Academy of Music, the National Women’s (composers) Symphony, the Musical Art Society of Lancaster, and recitals in Kenya, Tanzania and Puerto Rico. She has also appeared as soloist with the Lancaster Symphony and the Holton-Arms Orchestra. She was the winner of the National Society of Arts and Letters Regional Piano Competition, the Homer Ulrich Piano Competition, the SAI National Undergraduate Scholarship Audition and the Mu Phi Epsilon Undergraduate Competition. She received the University of Maryland Senior Scholar Award and was awarded the SAI Verna Ross Orndorff Career Performance Grant. She is currently active as a collaborative pianist at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music.
Gabriella McClellan is a fourth-year undergraduate at UGA, pursuing a degree in cello performance under the instruction of James Kim. As a winner of the UGA Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, she performed the first movement of Dvorák’s Cello
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
Concerto in B minor with the orchestra in January 2023. She performed it again with the MasterWorks Festival Orchestra in July 2023 as a winner of the Masterworks Festival Concerto Competition. Gabriella was a finalist in the PRISMA Concerto Competition in 2024 and a prize winner in the Atlanta Music Club Scholarship Competition in 2023. She has served as principal cellist in the UGA Symphony Orchestra, the PRISMA Festival Orchestra, the Masterworks Festival Orchestra, and the ARCO Chamber Orchestra, with whom she also performed Vivaldi’s Concerto for Violin and Cello in B-flat Major in 2022. A winner of the Alpharetta Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, she performed Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the symphony in 2021. Gabriella performed in the GMEA All-State Orchestra for six years, serving as principal cellist in 2017. She began playing the cello at age seven, studying with Erin Ellis until 2013 and continuing with Kathy Kee until coming to UGA in 2021, where she studied with David Starkweather for three years. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has coached with Raman Ramakrishnan, Mark Schumann, Paul Watkins, Henry Shapard, Paul Brantley, Joseph Lin, Alan Harrell, the Parker Quartet, Trio con Brio Copenhagen and Orli Shaham. She has also performed chamber music with artists such as Itamar Zorman and Amy Yang.
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UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA BRASS QUINTETS
Edge is located in the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, 250 River Road, Athens GA
UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA PHILHARMONIA
Hodgson Hall is located in the UGA Performing Arts Center, 230 River Road, Athens, GA
~NOIS QUARTET SAXOPHONE MASTERCLASS
Edge is located in the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, 250 River Road, Athens GA
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