New Music for Wind Band

Yale Concert Band

Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director

New Music for Wind Band Friday, April 12, at 7:30 pm

Woolsey Hall, Yale University

Leonard Bernstein arr. Walter Beeler

Overture to Candide (1950)

stephen feigenbaum

Short and Sweet (2013)

I. Manic Button

II. The Simplest Gifts

Felix Mendelssohn rev. Erik Leidzen alex shapiro

Trauer-Marsch, Op. 103 (1836) Immersion (2010) *

I. Depth

II. Surface

III. Beneath

~ INtermission ~

D. J. Sparr

Precious Metal: A Concerto for Flute and Winds (2010) *

I. Silver Strettos

II. Platinum Sheen

III. Gold Rush Jake Fridkis, flute

Thomas C. Duffy Century Shouts (2012)

* Specially commissioned by a consortium including the Yale Concert Band, funded in part by the Robert Flanagan Yale Band Commissions Endowment Fund

About Tonight’s Music Overture to Candide (1955) Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) Candide, the comic operetta based on Voltaire’s novel, had an unfortunately short life on Broadway in 1956. Too much operatic complexity for the music theater buffs, too much vaudeville silliness for the art-music avant-garde, and too much post-modern weirdness for honestly just about anyone, the show was ahead of its time when it premiered, and in many ways it still is. However, the lively overture had its premiere by the New York Philharmonic under the direction of the composer in 1957 and has been a favorite in the concert repertoire of both orchestras and bands ever since. The rhythmic and forceful work combines classical and popular elements into a style which is clever, modern, and quintessentially Bernstein.

Leonard Bernstein was born on August 25, 1918, in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Flamboyant, inspired and voracious in his conducting style, Bernstein got his big break conducting the New York Philharmonic in 1943. He was one of the first American-born conductors to lead world-class orchestras. As a composer, he is best known for composing the score for the musical West Side Story (1957), as well as a multitude of other musicals, operas, ballets, and orchestral symphonies.

Short and Sweet (2013) Stephen Feigenbaum (b. 1989) “In Short and Sweet, I set out to create a perfectly balanced pair of very brief movements. The first, ‘Manic Button,’ is a fast movement, but not your typical fast movement. I wanted it to be a little TOO exciting. At times it should sound like it is barely holding together, an inch away from careening off course. I introduce a wide range of musical figures in a very short time and try to cram them into a coherent work more or less by brute force. This should leave the listener out of breath when the second movement arrives. ‘The Simplest Gifts’ is about what I felt is the simplest gift music can give a listener: a gentle resolution. The movement is built around the idea of an intensely pointed, dissonant chord giving way to a gentle, beautiful harmony. It never really arrives firmly in a home key, but simply establishes moments of great tension and almost immediately relieves them. This simplicity and gentle care should provide the perfect balance to the uncontrollable mania of the first movement.”

– Stephen Feigenbaum Stephen Feigenbaum is an award-winning 23-year-old composer of music for the concert hall and the theater. When he was 19, his Serenade for Strings was recorded by the Cincinnati Pops under Erich Kunzel and released on a CD by Telarc. Stephen is a past winner of the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer award and the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble competition. Recently he won the Albany Symphony Orchestra’s Composer to Center Stage competition, which resulted in a reading of his work and mentoring by John Corigliano. The National Public Radio show From the Top has featured Stephen as a composer, and he has appeared as an a cappella singer on The Martha Stewart

YALE CONCERT BAND Show and NBC’s The Sing-Off.

Stephen’s music has been heard at Lincoln Center and Le Poisson Rouge in New York, Jordan Hall and the Hatch Shell in Boston, the Green Room in San Francisco, and in several international venues. It has received performances by musicians including the JACK Quartet, TwoSense (Lisa Moore and Ashley Bathgate), and Grammy-nominee violinist Caroline Goulding. Stephen was the 2010 ASCAP Foundation Young Composer Fellow at the Bowdoin International Music Festival and is a past fellow at the Norfolk (Connecticut) Chamber Music Festival.

At Yale, Stephen has created several theatrical productions that incorporate all-original instrumental music, stage lighting, and elaborate sets and media effects, tied together with loose narratives to tell musical stories that have attracted diverse audiences. He has also written the music for two full-length original musicals at Yale and has orchestrated, music directed, and conducted others.

A native of Winchester, Massachusetts, Stephen majored in music at Yale College and is pursuing a Master’s degree at the Yale School of Music. He is a student of Ezra Laderman, and has studied with Martin Bresnick, Christopher Theofanidis, Samuel Adler, Claude Baker, and Kathryn Alexander.

Trauer-Marsch, Op. 103 (1836) Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) Trauer-Marsch, opus 103, and Military Overture in C, opus 24, are Mendelssohn’s only original compositions for band. The Trauer-Marsch was written in 1836 for the funeral of Norbert Burgmuller (b.

1810), a close friend of the composer.

Originally written in a minor, this composition has been transposed and revised by Erik Leidzen, and was first performed in the United States by Edwin Franko Goldman and the Goldman band.

Felix Mendelssohn was born February 3, 1809, in Hamburg, Germany. In his music he largely observed Classical models and practices while initiating key aspects of Romanticism—the artistic movement that exalted feeling and the imagination above rigid forms and traditions. Among his most famous works are the Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1826) and Italian Symphony (1833).

Immersion (2010) * Alex Shapiro (b. 1962) “Immersion brings listeners on a sonic journey into a private, aquatic realm. Beneath the surface of the ocean is a world of liquid beauty and grace hidden from our eyes and from our imagination. Even in this habitat of life and hope, exquisite creatures remain vulnerable to events triggered from beyond their fragile sanctuary. Follow your ears and your heart to the depths of a place we sometimes forget to look.”

– Alex Shapiro

Alex Shapiro composes acoustic and electroacoustic pieces known for their lyricism and drama.

Her music is heard daily in concerts and broadcasts across the U.S. and internationally, and can be found on over twenty commercially released CDs from record labels around the world. Educated at the Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music as a student of Ursula Mamlok and John Corigliano, Ms. Shapiro’s honors and awards include those from The American Music Center, ASCAP, the American Composers Forum, Mu Phi Epsilon, Meet the Composer, The California Arts Council, and The MacDowell Colony.

Alex advocates for other artists through her speaking appearances, published articles, and community involvement. She is the national concert music representative on the ASCAP Board of Review, is a member of ASCAP’s Symphony & Concert Committee, serves on the Board of Directors of the MacDowell Colony, chairs the Media Council for New Music USA, and is the past President of the Board of Directors of the American Composers Forum Los Angeles Chapter. Raised in Manhattan and later a longtime resident of Malibu, California, Alex now lives on Washington State’s remote San Juan Island. When she’s not composing, she can be found communing with sea life, as seen on her music- and photo-filled blog, www.notesfromthekelp.com, and her website, www.alexshapiro.org.

Precious Metal: A Concerto for Flute and Winds (2010) * D. J. Sparr (b. 1975) “Precious Metal: A Concerto for Flute and Winds is based on the three metals of which the flute is made. Each metal is a descriptive title that influenced the construction and materials of each movement of the work. In the first movement, ‘Silver Strettos,’ the flute begins with a simple melody that infiltrates the wind ensemble. Over the course of the movement, the flute acts as a catalyst for call and response with the ensemble as well as initiating quick canonic motives. When thinking about silver, I was inspired to write bright and pristine melodic material and orchestration. ‘Platinum Sheen’ alternates between flute ‘airs’ and sustained ensemble chords that start very long but change at an ever-increasing rate. An instrumental consort comprised of clarinet, bassoon, harp, piano, and percussion often accompanies the soloist in this movement. Platinum does not have the glimmer of silver, so the orchestration in this movement is not as flashy as in the first movement, but as with platinum, the orchestration is strong and durable – using the low instruments of the ensemble for a strong foundation. ‘Gold Rush’ begins with a solo flute motive based on material from the first movement but now in a minor key. The ensemble interrupts with a pulsating crescendo that leads to a virtuosic flute cadenza. The middle section of this movement features a long accelerando with a soaring flute melody that ultimately leads to a musical accompaniment to a westward bound journey into sunset, a search for gold and riches.

This work is dedicated to flutist Donna Shin and maestro Tim Salzman, both of whom were marvelous collaborators throughout the compositional process. Precious Metal was commissioned by over thirty wind ensemble conductors and professors of flute organized by Professors Salzman and Shin.”

– D. J. Sparr

YALE CONCERT BAND D. J. Sparr merges art-concert craft with influences from music he performed as a young guitarist.

D. J. is the Young American Composer-in-Residence with the California Symphony where he writes three new orchestra works over a three-year period. He is also involved in educational programs in the schools and community at large, visiting local schools to discuss the ideas and changes surrounding the commissions and to work with music students.

D. J. was awarded the $10,000 grand prize in the orchestra category of the BMG/Williams College National Young Composers Competition. He received BMI Student Composer Awards in 1995 and 2000 and has received awards and recognition from the American Music Center, the Composers’ Guild, Eastman School of Music, George Washington University, New York Youth Symphony, and the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble.

D. J. is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music (B.M.) and the University of Michigan (M.M., D.M.A.). His principal teachers include Michael Daugherty, William Bolcom, Sydney Hodkinson, Christopher Rouse, Joseph Schwantner and Augusta Read Thomas. He studied with John Harbison at the Aspen Music Festival and the Oregon Bach Festival and was an Associate Artist-inResidence under Aaron Jay Kernis at the Atlantic Center for the Arts.

Sparr was the composer-in-residence for the Richmond Symphony’s Education and Community Engagement Department (2009-11); and has been a faculty member at the Walden School for Musicians.

A native of Baltimore, MD, he lives in Richmond, VA, with his wife Kimberly and their two dogs, Lloyd and Nannette.

Century Shouts (2012) Thomas C. Duffy (b. 1955) “Century Shouts was commissioned by the Neighborhood Music School of New Haven, CT, for the NHMS Wind Ensemble, Mark Gahm, music director, on the occasion of its centennial. It is music ‘of the city,’ an urban march. Its backbeats reflect a dash of Latin rhythms. Its melodies are accompanied by the clangs of metal and wood. Progress through the piece resembles progress through the neighborhoods of the city – some highly congested areas alternate with areas of space and lightness. Rather than celebrate the centennial with a regal fanfare or martial overture, this tribute shouts out praise with raw energy, as with a revival meeting in which participants are overcome with rapture! Hear the metal, here the neighborhoods. Here the concrete; hear the city. Hear the rhythm, here the people – all dancing through the day.”

– Thomas C. Duffy * Immersion and Precious Metal were commissioned in part by the Yale Concert Band. The Band’s portion of the commission was provided, in part, by the Robert Flanagan Yale Band Commissioning Endowment. Robert Flanagan (’63) was a member of the Yale Bands, and is now Konosuke Matsushita Professor of International Labor Economics and Policy Analysis, Emeritus, at Stanford University. His generosity made it possible to commission this fine music.

About Tonight’s Guest Performer Called a “child prodigy” at age twelve by the Princeton Packet, Jacob Fridkis (b. 1989) has performed as a soloist throughout the world with concerto appearances in United States, Germany, Italy, France and Brazil. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Music at Yale and studying with Ransom Wilson. He is a member of the new music ensemble “Le Train Bleu,” led by Ransom Wilson.

An advocate of new music, he has premiered numerous works by Gary Schocker, the worlds most published composer for flute, including two duets with the composer at the National Flute Convention (2005, 2009).

Jacob continued his musical education at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he was awarded the Presidential Scholarship and earned a Bachelor of Music degree as a student of Joshua Smith. He was selected as the only student to perform solo at CIM’s convocation. In Cleveland he served as principal flute in the Ohio Philharmonic and was a member of the Firelands Symphony Orchestra. He performed Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto Number 5 with the Cleveland Philharmonic, a piece which he had previously performed at the Philadelphia Bach Festival.

He previously studied with Gary Schocker and Jeffrey Khaner. He will be attending Aspen this summer to study with Mark Sparks.

Yale Concert Band 2012-2013

YALE CONCERT BAND

About the Music Director Thomas C. Duffy (b. 1955), composer and conductor, is Professor (adjunct) of Music and Director of Bands at Yale University. He served as Acting Dean of the School of Music in 2005-2006, having served as Associate Dean since 1996 and Deputy ­­Dean since 1999. He has served as a member of the Fulbright National Selection Committee and was a member of the historic Tanglewood II Symposium (2007). He attended the Harvard University Institute for Management and Leadership in Education in 2005. He has served as president of the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) and the New England College Band Association (NECBA), editor of the CBDNA Journal, publicity chair for the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, and chair of the Connecticut Music Educators Association’s Professional Affairs and Government Relations committees, and has represented music education in Yale’s Teacher Preparation Program. He is member of American Bandmasters Association, American Composers Alliance, Connecticut Composers Inc., the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, and BMI. An active composer with a D.M.A. in composition from Cornell University, where he was a student of Karel Husa and Steven Stucky, he has accepted commissions from the American Composers Forum, the United States Military Academy at West Point, the U.S. Army Field Band, and numerous bands, choruses and orchestras. He joined the Yale faculty in 1982.

In 2009 he received an award from the United States Attorney’s Office for his innovative program with the Yale Concert Band (Yale 4Peace Rap for Justice) which, through the integration of classical and rap music, addressed gangs, crime and violence in Connecticut’s cities.

Upcoming Yale Bands Performances • Sunday, May 19, 2013: Yale Concert Band Annual Twilight Concert. Ceremonial music on the eve of Yale’s Commencement. 7:00 pm, outside on the Old Campus. Free.

• May 21-Jun 1, 2013: Yale Concert Band Tours The Baltic States! Concerts in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.

For further information please contact: Yale University Bands P.O. Box 209048, New Haven, CT 06520–9048 ph: (203) 432–4113; fax: (203) 432–7213 stephanie.hubbard@yale.edu; www.yale.edu/yaleband

YALE CONCERT BAND 2012-2013 THOMAS C. DUFFY, Music Director STEPHANIE T. HUBBARD, Business Manager Piccolo Joohee Son SY 15

Bass Clarinet Ben Weissler CC 15

Flute Helen Caldwell MC 16 Principal Paige Breen SY 16 Ariana Hackenburg GSAS 17 Eve Roth MC 16 Lance Banks ES 15 Cho-Long Kang YSM 13 Vicky Tu DC 16

Bassoon Nick Baskin ES 14 Principal Miguel Goncalves ES 16

Oboe Mason Ji MC 16 Principal Jeff Reinhardt YSM 13 Eb Clarinet Carrie Cao MC 15 Clarinet Albert Jiao SY 16 Keith L. Wilson Principal Clarinet Chair Eugene Kim BK 16 Acshi Haggenmiller MC 15 Daniel Hwang TC 16 Molly Haig DC 14 Catherine Holland ES 16 Liz Jones BR 15 James Mandilk SY 13 * Carrie Cao MC 15 Nathan Prillaman JE 13 * Melinda Becker TC 15 Rachel Yen SM 14 Paul Singer JE 16

Contrabassoon Alex Pappas SM 15 Alto Saxophone Alex Pappas SM 15 Principal Alyssa Hasbrouck MC 14

Trombone Melvin Loong SY 14 Principal Christopher Brown YSM 14 Kevin Dombrowski YSM 14 Euphonium Stephen Ivany YSM 14 Tuba James Volz SY 15 Quinn White BR 14 String Bass Samuel Suggs YSM 14

Tenor Saxophone William Gearty BR 14

Harp Stephanie Babirak

Baritone Saxophone Catherine Stark BR 16

Piano David Molina TD 15

Trumpet Robby Moser YSM 14 Principal William Thomas PC 16 David Wharton YSM 11 Sagar Setru BR 13 * Jeffrey March TD 15

Percussion Chase Young CC 13 * Principal Samuel Anklesaria ES 15 Victor Caccese YSM 13 Kate Gonzales CC 11 Christian Schmidt MC 14 Mari Yoshinaga YSM 14 Andi Zhou JE 13 *

French Horn Daniel Rigberg BK 15 Principal Samuel Nemiroff JE 16 Katherine McDaniel JE 14 Austin Long CC 15 Sophie Janaskie ES 15 Adam Adler LAW 15

Music Librarian Nick Baskin ES 14

* Seniors

Yale Concert Band Officers President: Rachel Yen Personmel Manager: Eugene Kim General Managers: Melinda Becker, Catherine Stark Publicity Chair: Joohee Son Social Chairs: Liz Jones, Billy Thomas