U TA H VA L L E Y UNI V ERSI T Y
DR. DONNA FAIRBANKS violin
DR. JEFFERY O’FLYNN clarinet\
DR. HILARY DEMSKE piano
September 24, 2026 NU SKIN RECITAL HALL
PROGRAM Elegy for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano I. Distant II. Soliloquy III. Driven
Lost in the Land of Oz I. Adrift in the Starry Forever II. The Doppelganger Polka III. Getting Back to Kansas
Andrew Rathbun
Katherine Ann Murdock
Conversations for Violin and Clarinet I. Intimate II. Light III. Bits and Snatches IV. Rather Serious V. Playful VI. Sad (about a departed friend)
Roger Nixon
Trio for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano I. Capriccio – Allegro II. Romanza – Andante espressivo III. Envoi – Allegro
Gian Carlo Menotti
PROGRAM NOTES Composer Biographies Toronto native Andrew Rathbun composes works with modern jazz elements that are deeply rooted by classical composition. He has written multiple big band commissions for ensembles around the world and considers his work deeply inspired by poetry. Elegy was a work commissioned by the UVU Faculty Trio in 2010. Katherine Ann Murdock spent the greater part of her career teaching music theory and composition at Wichita State University. She has received commissions from around the world, including a chamber work premiered in the Kennedy Center. Her work Lost in the Land of Oz is a clever interpretation of the classic story Wizard of Oz. Roger Nixon served as a faculty member at San Francisco State University. Most of his works are for band, but he also wrote for a variety of chamber ensembles. His work Conversations for Violin and Clarinet is steeped in color and contrast, highlighting the unique qualities of each instrument. Italian composer Gian Carlo Menotti is primarily known for his output of 25 operas. His operatic sentiments are on display in his Trio for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano. Menotti taught music composition at the Curtis Institute of Music and served as the artistic director of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma.
Composer Notes The title, Lost in the Land of Oz, is only a vague reference to The Wizard of Oz, denoting a kind of journey through an alien universe (“Oz”) or a dreamlike state of consciousness. The three movements present various aspects of the journey. Adrift in the Starry Forever suggests an exotic, haunting, and strangely beautiful atmosphere. The Doppelgänger Polka has a kind of “lost in the funhouse” quality to it, juxtaposing the serious nature of the title subject, the “Doppelgänger” or “Shadow,” with the inanity of a polka format; it is flavored by references to famous classical and popular works. Getting Back to Kansas is a journey back to “normalcy” or “home.” Structurally, the first movement falls into a modified ABA form; the second movement takes its structure from “The Beer Barrel Polka,” and the third movement is, more or less, through-composed, culminating in a sort of brief, cheerful minimalism. Whole-tone and octatonic structures are featured in the outer movements; the middle movement is often polytonal, sometimes atonal, and involves elements of improvisation.
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