12.01.2020 ENS Symphony Orchestra

OPEN SPACES WEST CHESTER UNIVERSITY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Joseph Caminiti, Director TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2020 WCU FOUNDATION BALLROOM 202 CARTER DRIVE, WEST CHESTER, PA 8:15 PM

PROLOGUE Music fills space and time. While we are quite accustomed to perceiving music’s journey in time, it is a bit harder to imagine that it fills space because we cannot see musical sound. Sound takes physical shape, though, sending out rings of compressed air from a sound source (such as instruments) like ripples on a pond. These air waves meet our eardrums, and our brains perceive and organize the sounds into what we call music.

Artistically, musicians often speak of filling up literal and imagined spatial shapes and sizes with sound. It helps us to create a boundless array of sounds ranging from dense sonorities to wide expanses. Composers also write with spaces in mind. I am struck by the often spacious and hallowed worlds that Ralph Vaughan Williams explores. Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus illustrates this beautifully. Each Variant is borne out in a cathedral-like dimension whose canopied spaces are filled with luminous sounds and textures that waft like rising incense. All of this inhabits a reverent space. There are only brief moments when the music disturbs the hallowed halls with inquietude and open turmoil. In the end, the piece breathes in wide satisfying arches that dispel into a warm glow.

Glazunov’s Theme and Variations are based on a theme one could easily hear in the Russian Orthodox Church. It is a kind of darkly hued chant felt deep in the chest. The variants are primarily contemplative, though two of them take on a dance-like quality.

All in all, the sound-world is earthy and deep, filling space thickly and ponderously.

Violent, Violent Sea by Missy Mazzoli lives in the expanse of the open ocean. It has a turbulent quality that sometimes erupts capriciously, and at other times heaves as an undercurrent. There are sounds that arise from the ocean floor, and some that mist from the brim of a wave. The glint of the sun on the water is often evoked through ribbons of wind instruments, marimba, and vibraphone. Throughout this piece, there is a sense that the physical allusions to the sea are connected to the tempest of human experience. In this way, the piece transcends a one-to-one relationship and moves us to consider life through the powerful metaphor of the sea.

While the WCUSO looks forward to one day reopening our performing halls to the public, we hope the broad expressive spaces of these pieces will help bridge our physical distance. ~Reflections by Joseph Caminiti

PROGRAM VIOLENT, VIOLENT SEA FOR CHAMBER ORCHESTRA (2011) ......................... Missy Mazzoli Composer biography link: https://missymazzoli.com/about/ (b. 1980) Notes from the Composer: “Violent, Violent Sea” was commissioned by the Barlow Endowment and the League of Composers Chamber Orchestra…This work began with more of an emotional impression than a precise musical idea. My early notes for the piece look something like this: LOUD BUT SLOW. LIGHT BUT DARK. VIBRAPHONE. HOW TO DO THIS? To my relief I eventually did figure out “how to do this.” The work evolved significantly from the early sketches but my idea of creating a loud, dense work with conflicting light and dark sides remained intact.

The result is a ten-minute piece with a deceptively sparkling exterior and dark, slow-moving chords at its core. These chords grind against each other, dissolve into glissandos and crescendo into surprising dissonances under the glistening patina of vibraphone and marimba. This work is dedicated to Sheila Mazzoli, who loves the sea more than anyone.

THEME AND VARIATIONS FOR STRING ORCHESTRA (1895) ............................. A. Glazunov Composer biography link: https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Alexander_Glazunov (1865–1936) Theme Variant I: Moderato Variant II: Poco più mosso Variant III: Tranquillo Variant IV: Moderato scherzando Variant V: Allegro moderato Variant VI: Allegretto—moderato

Olivia Choi, graduate conductor FIVE VARIANTS OF DIVES AND LAZARUS (1939).................................. R. Vaughan Williams Composer biography link: https://rvwsociety.com/short-biography/ (1872–1958) Theme: Adagio (attacca) Variant I: Adagio (attacca) Variant II: Allegro moderato (attacca) Variant III (attacca) Variant IV: L’istesso tempo (attacca) Variant V: Adagio

MUSICIANS

VIOLIN I Manuela Isabel Romero Gonzalez, Concertmaster Ben Weaver, Associate Concertmaster Abigail Stratton Millie Slifer VIOLIN II Olivia Choi, Principal Sharon Chen Madeline DeBlois Kat Norman Anastasia Galante VIOLA Priscilla Paino, Principal Robert Cutler John Griffin Rosie Wilson Valerie Miller CELLO Lily Eckman, Principal Simon Perez Torres Ally Paino Bonnie Calhoun Grace Rich Michael Repko Liam Shaw

FLUTE Erica Hinchcliff OBOE John DeBiase CLARINET Paige Rehill BASSOON Joe Plavin HORN Frank Stroble TRUMPET Josiah Stetler TROMBONE Christian Ryan PERCUSSION Cameron Davis, Principal Brett Gillott Harp Sarah Higgins-Benz

DOUBLE BASS Tim Ragsdale Grace Wible Sarah Rentz

UPCOMING WELLS SCHOOL OF MUSIC EVENTS

For full event details visit wcupa.edu/music or call (610) 436-2739

COVID-19 STATEMENT In Person Audiences Are Not Permitted for Fall 2020 Events Wednesday, December 2, 2020, 8:15 PM Flute Ensemble Concert Kimberly Reighley, director Madeleine Wing Adler Theatre Performing Arts Center

Thursday, December 3, 2020, 11:00 AM WSoM Fall Convocation Recital Ralph Sorrentino & Emily Bullock Madeleine Wing Adler Theatre Performing Arts Center

Thursday, December 3, 2020, 8:15 PM Statesmen & Jazz Combos Concert Daniel Cherry, director Madeleine Wing Adler Theatre Performing Arts Center

Saturday, December 5, 2020, 3:00 PM 99th Annual Holiday Program Ryan Kelly, director Emilie K. Asplundh Concert Hall Philips Memorial Building

Sunday, December 6, 2020, 7:30 PM Collegium Musicum Mark Rimple, director Ware Family Recital Hall Swope Music Building *Tickets required for this event.

Events at the Wells School of Music are often supported by individual donors and organizations.

Contributions to the Wells School of Music may be made out to: WCU Foundation, 202 Carter Drive, West Chester, PA 19382 Please include “School of Music Deans Fund� in the memo line.

For further information, please call (610) 436-2868 or visit wcufoundation.org A majority of performances are available to watch via live stream at Facebook.com/ArtsAtWCUPA and LiveStream.com/wcupa.

Mr. Robert Rust, Audio & Visual Technician Steinway & Sons Piano Technical, Tuning and Concert Preparations by Gerald P. Cousins, RPT If you do not intend to save your program, please recycle it in the baskets at the exit doors.

The Wells School of Music | West Chester University of Pennsylvania Dr. Christopher Hanning, Dean