UGA Choral Project with the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble presents "Awakening"

EXPERIENCE MUSIC CONNECTION SERIES

UGACHORALPROJECT WITH THE CONTEMPORARY CHAMBER ENSEMBLE

awakening

music.uga.edu | 706-542-3737

@ugamusic

CONNECTION SERIES

awakening Friday, January 12, 2023 at 5:30 p.m.

Ramsey Concert Hall, UGA Performing Arts Center

UGA CHORAL PROJECT Sarah Frook Gallo, conductor Daniel Shafer, Choral Project manager Olivia Baxley

Lauren Labarre

Alessandra Sayers

Jeff Unger

Cameran Butryn

Rayvon Love

Daniel Shafer

Marlee Van Mullekom

Arielle Crumley

Abigail McMillan

Rebecca Smith

Audrey Vazquez

Presley Dale

Barrett Meadows

Kathleen Sullivan

Joshua Wagner

Joshua Dixon

Ally Murari

Brooks Todd

Ryan Ward

Thomas Dixon

Braden Rymer

Hope Unger

Demetreon Wells

Singers listed in alphabetical order by last name.

UGA CONTEMPORARY CHAMBER ENSEMBLE Brandon Quarles, conductor Dylan Abbott, flute and piccolo Bailey Hume, clarinet and bass clarinet Joshua Wood, horn Danny Alford, trombone Alexis Boylan, violin Sean Smith, violin Rogelio Bonilla-Piedra, viola Zachary Helms, cello Wueliton Dal Pont, bass Euan Maley, percussion

PROGRAM

You Through Me

Alex Berko Daniel Shafer, tenor

Strum

Jessie Montgomery

Wire You here

Moira Smiley

Amara

John Rommereim Brandon Quarles, saxophone

Time

Jennifer Lucy Cook

The Awakening

Loren Loiacono Amy Petrongelli, soprano

Please hold your applause between sets as indicated by the lines above.

Out of courtesy to the performers and fellow audience members, please silence all mobile devices before the concerts begin. Flash photography is strictly prohibited.

TEXTS AND PROGRAM NOTES

You Through Me

Alex Berko (b. 1995); You Through Me (2022) On a text by Rūta Kuzmickas and Alex Berko From the composer: “You Through Me is a song about the Elizabeth Street Garden in SoHo, NY. It is a story about how a physical place is linked with our experiences and memories of it.

Beloved by area residents, the Elizabeth Street Garden draws over 125,000 visitors a year. In 2021, city officials announced a plan to build affordable housing on the site—a noble goal, but one that would destroy the garden. This dichotomy between who the space belongs to and what thoughts, emotions, and experiences we impress upon that place (and places in general) is at the heart of this piece. To express this concept more deeply, I chose to tell the story of the garden from the perspective of the garden itself; it observes, wonders, and at times, pleads, just as we do as humans.”

TEXT AND PROGRAM NOTES

You Through Me (continued) I look on as you walk through me You are my memory, my spine, Etched in these slabs of stone,

Where will you go, you’ve always come to me, Where will you come to rest your weary eyes, To set your heavy sorrows in the soft helm of my soil,

I’ve filled the branches of my trees with every phrase you wanted me to hear Like lyrics for the city birds to sing— The unsent letters you have Folded in your sleeves

If I am formed into another frame Leaves to brick and soil to stone A place to rest, a place to call your home Then I will surely never be alone

These vines of tangled years,

Dusk arrives to call you home Evasive as light, as hours We must spend apart, colors Of these walls turned grey till dawn And time and time in time again I’ll wind up carried by your shoes Along to where you land.

And time and time in time again Each time the rain keeps you away It’s you I wish it were instead

To let the weather water them to bloom

Come back to me just as you are To sleep within your quiet room To love and grieve and take the time you need For who knows what tomorrow brings Rest easy, you can always come to me And dry off from the storm under the eaves Take all that I can give, there is no end To time with you if there is time again, Time and time in time again.

Strum

Jessie Montgomery (b. 1981) Strum (2006) for string quint From the composer: Strum is the culminating result of several versions of a string quintet I wrote in 2006. It was originally written for the Providence String Quartet and guests of Community MusicWorks Players, then arranged for string quartet in 2008 with several small revisions. In 2012 the piece underwent its final revisions with a rewrite of both the introduction and the ending for the Catalyst Quartet in a performance celebrating the 15th annual Sphinx Competition.

Originally conceived for the formation of a cello quintet, the voicing is often spread wide over the ensemble, giving the music an expansive quality of sound. Within Strum I utilized texture motives, layers of rhythmic or harmonic ostinati that string together to form a bed of sound for melodies to weave in and out. The strumming pizzicato serves as a texture motive and the primary driving rhythmic underpinning of the piece. Drawing on American folk idioms and the spirit of dance and movement, the piece has a kind of narrative that begins with fleeting nostalgia and transforms into ecstatic celebration.

TEXTS AND PROGRAM NOTES

Wire You Here

Moira Smiley (b. 1976) Wire You Here (2020) On an original text by the composer.

From the composer: Wire You Here is “an exploration of ever-changing connection and disconnection.”

Wire you here?

You you you you...

I’m reaching across to you now I reach, I reach to you now...

What carries me across the abyss What carries me across the abyss of us Carry me across the abyss of us...

Amara

John Rommereim (b. 1958) Amara (2016) From the composer: Amara is an Igbo word for “grace.” The title for this piece was suggested by my wife Angela Voos, with help from her Nigerian friend Chinyere Ukabiala. After listening to me play and sing it at the piano, she told me that the directness and simplicity of the tune, and especially the calm breaths between phrases, seemed to evoke, for her, a sense of grace. I think this title suits the music perfectly. Since there is no text, and since there’s no linkage to any particular belief system or religion, each singer and listener can fill in the blanks on their own as to what grace is, and how this song might enact it.

Time

Jennifer Lucy Cook Time (2022) On an original text by the composer From the composer: “One of my favorite parts of being both a composer and a lyricist is the full permission to twist lyrics as much as I like, because the only person to answer to is myself!

“Time” allowed me to do exactly that. My goal was to convey the feeling of condensing time by removing lyrics upon each repetition, thereby changing the meaning in some profound as well as ridiculous ways.”

TEXTS AND PROGRAM NOTES

Time (continued) Time, you can spend it, when you spend it then you’re running out of Time, you can save it, but to save it is to take a little Time, in a minute, when you’re in it, can you feel the passing Time is an illusion, there’s confusion when they tell you now it’s Time to get older, time to work and time to waste and there’s no Time left to hold her, time to tell him how you feel while there’s still Time, three two one eleven thirty, two AM, then dinner Time now to kill, I said I will and still it flies and flies, oh Time Time, you can spend when you spend you’re running out of Time, you can save but to save it takes some Time, in a minute, you’re in it, feel passing Time is an illusion, confusion they tell you now it’s Time to get older, to work, time to waste, there’s no Time left to hold time to tell him while there’s still Time, three two eleven two AM, dinner Time now to kill, said I will still it flies oh Time Time you can when you you’re running out of save it take a little Time, minute, can you feel passing is an illusion, they tell you to get older, work, waste, there’s no hold her, tell him feel there’s Time, one, thirty, dinner Time, kill will still fly oh Time, you can spend it, when you spend it then you’re running out of Time, you can spend it when you spend it then you’re running out of Time, in a minute, when you’re in it, can you feel the passing Time They say Time to get older, time to work and time to waste and there’s no Time left to hold her, time to tell him how you feel while there’s still Time, three two one, eleven thirty, two AM, then dinner Time now to kill, I said I will and still it flies and flies, oh fly fly fly on Time

TEXTS AND PROGRAM NOTES

The Awakening

Loren Loiacono (b. 1989) The Awakening (2012) Text adapted from the novel The Awakening (1899) by Kate Chopin (1850-1904) How strange and awful it seemed to stand naked under the sky! How delicious! She felt like some new-born creature, opening its eyes in a familiar world that it had never known.

The foamy wavelets curled up to her white feet, and coiled like serpents about her ankles. She walked out. The water was chill, but she walked on. The water was deep, but she lifted her white body and reached out with a long sweeping stroke. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.

She went on and on. She remembered the night she swam far out, and recalled the terror that seized her at the fear of being unable to regain the shore. She did not look back now, but went on and on, thinking of the blue-grass meadow that she had traversed when a little child, believing that it had no beginning and no end.

Her arms and legs were growing tired.

She thought of Leonce and the children. They were a part of her life. But they need not have thought that they could possess her, body and soul... “Good-by- because I love you.” He did not know; he did not understand. He would never understand.

Edna heard her father’s voice and her sister Margaret’s. She heard the barking of an old dog that was chained to the sycamore tree. The spurs of the cavalry officer clanged as he walked across the porch. There was the hum of bees, and the odor of pinks filled the air.

UGA Choral Project performs “Vida” August 18, 2023. Photo by Shaun Baer.

UGA Contemporary Chamber Ensemble performs “Still Life” April 25, 2023. Photo by Shaun Baer.

EXPERIENCE MUSIC UPCOMING PERFORMANCES

THURS 1/16

7:30 p.m.

Ramsey Hall, UGA PAC

FACULTY ARTIST SERIES

ANATOLY

SHELUDYAKOV PIANO

$3 UGA STUDENT TICKETS ADULTS $15 WITH VALID UGA STUDENT ID CARD

Tickets: music.uga.edu | 706-542-4400

WED 1/17

7:30 p.m.

Edge Hall, School of Music FREE CONCERT NO TICKETS REQUIRED

MON 1/22, TUES 1/23 MON 1/29, TUES 1/30 7:30 p.m.

Edge Hall, School of Music FREE CONCERT

TUES 1/23

7:30 p.m.

Ramsey Hall, UGA PAC FREE CONCERT NO TICKETS REQUIRED

THURS 1/25

7:30 p.m.

Hodgson Hall, UGA PAC

BRASS CHAMBER RECITAL

BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL

FEATURING TEN VIOLIN SONATAS

FACULTY AND GUEST ARTIST RECITAL

MICHAEL HEALD VIOLIN

TIMOTHY LOVELACE PIANO

CONCERTO COMPETITION WINNERS WITH THE UGA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

$3 UGA STUDENT TICKETS ADULTS $20 WITH VALID UGA STUDENT ID CARD

Tickets: music.uga.edu | 706-542-4400

Hugh Hodgson School of Music, 250 River Road, Athens, GA, 30602 Phone: 706-542-3737 Website: music.uga.edu

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