Yale Concert Band, Apr 15

Yale Concert Band Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director

From Rome to Athens Friday, April 15, 2016, at 7:30 pm

Woolsey Hall, Yale University

ANDREAS MAKRIS Aegean Festival Overture (1967) arr. Major Albert Bader ERIC WHITACRE October (2000) FRANCO CESARINI Greek Folk Song Suite (2002)

I. O Haralambis

II. Stu Psiloriti

III. Vasilikos tha gino ~ INTERMISSION ~

A March Triptych: MICHELE MANGANI Urbino (1994) JULIAN WORK Stand the Storm (1963) HENRY FILLMORE Americans We (1929) ed. Frederick Fennell ADAM GORB Dances from Crete (2003)

I. Syrtos

II. Tik

III. Samaria Gorge

IV. Syrtaki

About Tonight’s Music Aegean Festival Overture (1967) ANDREAS MAKRIS (arr. Major Albert Bader) Andreas Makris wrote Aegean Festival Overture as an orchestral overture for the Washington National Symphony. Its immediate success prompted a collaboration between Makris and Major Albert Bader of the U.S. Air Force Band to arrange the overture as a concert piece for wind band, which premiered in 1968. The work’s hammering dotted-eighth rhythms reflect the Greek origins of its composer, who was born in Salonika. Its driving energy and restless 5- and 7-note patterns, together with the contrasting middle section’s lyric plaintiveness, epitomize the musical style of Makris–a blend of classical form and Greek folkloristic elements. The Yale Concert Band will open its programs with this piece in May of this year in Italy and Greece.

October (2000) ERIC WHITACRE According to Eric Whitacre, “October is my favorite month. Something about the crisp autumn air and the subtle change in light always makes me a little sentimental, and as I started to sketch, I felt the same, quiet beauty in the writing. The simple, pastoral melodies and subsequent harmonies are inspired by the great English Romantics (Vaughan Williams, Elgar), as I felt that this style was also perfectly suited to capture the natural and pastoral soul of the season. I’m quite happy with the end result, especially because I feel there just isn’t enough lush, beautiful music written for winds.”

Greek Folk Song Suite (2002) FRANCO CESARINI In Greek Folk Song Suite, Franco Cesarini elaborates on three songs belonging to the Greek tradition. The first, “O Haralambis,” is written in 7/8 time and possesses the characteristics of a popular folk dance called kalamatianos. Originally, the song O Haralambis was sung to “tease” during weddings, since the text of the song refers to a young man who refuses to marry. The second movement, “Stu Psiloriti,” refers to an ancient song from the island of Crete. The Psiloritis is the highest peak of the Ida Mountains. The suite’s third movement is based on the song “Vasilikos tha gino,” a very ancient song of the Ipeiros region. This movement alludes to the sirtaki, probably the most popular Greek dance outside of Greece.

Urbino (1994) MICHELE MANGANI Born in Urbino, Italy, Michele Mangani holds degrees from “Rossini” in Pesaro: Clarinet (1984), Band Instrumentation (1987), Composition (1990), and Conducting (1992). He also holds a degree in Music Choir and Choir Directing (1998) from the Conservatory “GB Martini” in Bologna.

Mangani wrote Urbino in 1994 to commemorate the 20th year of partnership between his Band Musicale Cittadina di Urbania and the city of Urbino. Urbino is in two parts, a fanfare and march.

YALE CONCERT BAND Stand the Storm (1963) JULIAN WORK Stand the Storm composer Julian Work described himself as a composer who was influenced by the music of Debussy and Ravel. However, he hastened to add that he was not wholly an Impressionist, for he hoped that he had developed his own style of orchestration. Like many other Impressionist composers, he insisted on the freedom to use whatever compositional devices might best serve the needs of his current subject. His melodies are generally built not from strong, broadly articulated themes, but from short motives of narrow range. The effect of the chord was an important compositional device for Work. If the chord was particularly striking, it may have been repeated in parallel motion, a typical Impressionist harmonic technique. These chords can move by any interval, but most often move by step. Work also used triads with ninths, elevenths, and thirteenths that often resolved unexpectedly. The extensive chromaticism in his compositions, along with parallel chords, weaken the progression toward the tonic. Work, although bound by tradition, sought to create new compositional forms that suited his musical taste. He wished to leave his listeners not with a profound answer, but with an impression.

Americans We (1929) HENRY FILLMORE (ed. Frederick Fennell) Henry Fillmore, who composed this classic march during a series of concerts his band presented at the local zoo, originally referred to the piece using several unflattering titles, such as “The Cincinnati Zoo” and–for reasons unknown–“Pure Food and Health.” In 1929 he finally published the march, which he later considered his finest, as Americans We, dedicating the work to “all of us.”

Dances from Crete (2003) ADAM GORB Adam Gorb, one of the leading young British composers of today, writes, “Dances From Crete is in four movements and is intended to celebrate the good things in life, drawing much of its material from the dance music from the Greek island of Crete, where many of the ancient Greek myths took place. The first movement, ‘Syrtos,’ is intended to serve as a portrait of the Minotaur, the famous creature that was half bull/half man and fed upon young men and women that were sacrificed to him ever year; he was eventually killed by the hero Theseus. The character of this movement is harsh and ruthless.

“The second movement, ‘Tik,’ is a more graceful dance based on the sinuous movements of young women, but it is also characterized by a certain roughness and is in 5/8 time. Tim Reynish [who, along with his wife, Hilary, commissioned this piece to commemorate his son William’s tragic death in a mountaineering accident] writes that ‘in this movement the whole orchestra should feel the pulse like a Cretan Peasant on the threshing floor.’ Following on from this, the third movement in a slow 7/4 time is darker in mood and inspired by a steep and perilous walk down the Samaria Gorge, one of the most spectacular of all walks. The movement eventually rises to a

triumphant peroration, depicting a welcome plunge into the Libyan Sea. Following distant offstage fanfares, the finale is a deliberately vulgar theme. The music soon becomes very fast and eventually ends in total festive anarchy, although before the final apotheosis the ghost of the Minotaur can briefly be heard joining the party.”

Upcoming Yale Bands Performance • Sunday, May 22, 2016: Yale Concert Band Twilight Concert. Celebratory music on the eve of Yale’s Commencement. 7:00 pm, outside on the Old Campus.Free.

YALE CONCERT BAND

Senior Reflections Daniel Hwang, TC ’16, Clarinet Though the chemical engineering curriculum has taken up a substantial portion of my time and energy, I’ve made sure to make Yale Concert Band a part of my routine for all four years at Yale. I look back fondly on all the experiences YCB has granted me: reading through crazy pieces, walking through Lithuanian streets, taking part in the Latvian Beer Festival, and dancing to Ghanaian beats. I definitely look forward to our YCB tour in Italy and Greece this summer.

Outside of Yale Concert Band and coursework, I’ve dedicated much of my time to Splash at Yale, an undegraduaterun educational outreach program. Splash brings together hundreds of middle and high school students from across the New England area to take classes on a variety of subjects, all taught

by Yale undergraduate and graduate students. I’ve taught for and run the program since freshman year, and am happy to have seen the program grow to greater scope.

I’m planning on staying in New Haven for a while, working at Yale’s Finance department by performing analysis on the projected Yale University budget. I hope to continue my involvement with Splash at Yale by teaching and advising the incoming leadership, and I will attend YCB concerts regularly.

Mason Ji, MC ’16, Oboe Being in the Yale Concert Band has been one of my greatest experiences at Yale. I met Mr. Duffy at the All-National Concert Band my junior year of high school and remember telling myself that if I got into Yale, I’d want to be in Mr. Duffy’s band for the entire four years. So, here I am! The musical experience of YCB has been amazing—I remember the sensations when we played the “Firebird Suite,” hosted a joint concert with the West Point Concert Band, and were electrified by African superstar Angelique Kidjo’s presence when we shared a stage with her last year. My YCB carrer has now come full-circle: the first piece I played in my first concert at Yale was the Aegean Festival Overture, and it is also the first piece I will play in my last. More than anything, the band has been a family away from home for me these past four years. The amazing friends I have met through the band and the shenanigans we experienced together through Band Dinners and retreat are bonds and memories I will cherish and maintain forever. Thank you so much to Mr. Duffy, Stephanie, and my fellow band musicians for four wonderful years of music-making.

Eugene Kim, BK ’16, Clarinet Two summers ago, the Yale Concert Band and a few Ghanaian drummers revolutionized the drum concerto. Before performing Jeff Tyzik’s Riffs at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) in Ghana, we decided that our drum set soloist would share his cadenza with the UCC drummers who were joining us for that concert. The result was marvelous: our soloist and their drummers took turns in the foreground, each building on what had been done previously. Their exchange was a musical conversation, in which no words were uttered, but bonds were formed.

I have since come to appreciate how music not only provides individual enjoyment, but also brings people together. I first noticed this latter effect when we collaborated with the Ghanaian drummers, but later noticed how the same effect was responsible for the depth of my friendships within the Yale Band. We have the privilege of communicating not only through our words, but also through our music. We respect each other not only through our words and gestures, but also through our ability to quiet down for a soloist or listen to a stand partner. Our friendship has many layers, and each layer strengthens the bonds between us.

I will miss the band after I graduate and leave Yale for a while. But my memories of the music we have made will always remind me of the friendships we have built.

YALE CONCERT BAND

About the Music Director Thomas C. Duffy (b. 1955) is Professor (Adjunct) of Music and Director of University Bands at Yale University, where he has worked since 1982. He has established himself as a composer, a conductor, a teacher, an administrator, and a leader. His interests and research range from non-tonal analysis to jazz, from wind band history to creativity and the brain. Under his direction, the Yale Bands have performed at conferences of the College Band Directors National Association and New England College Band Association; for club audiences at NYC’s Village Vanguard and Iridium, Ronnie Scotts’s (London), and the Belmont (Bermuda); performed as part of the inaugural ceremonies for President George H.W. Bush; and concertized in nineteen countries in the course of sixteen international tours.

Duffy produced a two-year lecture/performance series, Music and the Brain, with the Yale School of Medicine; and, with the Yale School of Nursing, developed a musical intervention to train nursing students to better hear and identify body sounds with the stethoscope. He combined his interests in music and science to create a genre of music for the bilateral conductor - in which a “split-brained conductor” must conduct a different meter in each hand, sharing downbeats. His compositions have introduced a generation of school musicians to aleatory, the integration of spoken/sung words and “body rhythms” with instrumental performance, and the pairing of music with political, social, historical and scientific themes. He has been awarded the Yale Tercentennial Medal for Composition, the Elm/ Ivy Award, the Yale School of Music Cultural Leadership Citation and certificates of appreciation by the United States Attorney’s Office for his Yale 4/Peace: Rap for Justice concerts – music programs designed for social impact by using the power of music to deliver a message of peace and justice to impressionable middle and high school students.

From 1996 to 2006, he served as associate, deputy and acting dean of the Yale School of Music. He has served as a member of the Fulbright National Selection Committee, the Tanglewood II Symposium planning committee, and the Grammy Foundation Music Educators Award Screening Committee, and completed the MLE program at the Harvard University Institute for Management and Leadership in Education. He has served as: president of the Connecticut Composers Inc., the New England College Band Directors Association and the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA); 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. For nine years, he represented music education in Yale’s Teacher Preparation Program. He is a member of American Bandmasters Association, American Composers Alliance, the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, Connecticut Composers Incorporated, the Social Science Club, and BMI. Duffy has conducted ensembles all over the world and most recently was selected to conduct the 2011 NAFME National Honor Band in the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.

YALE CONCERT BAND 2015-2016 THOMAS C. DUFFY, Music Director STEPHANIE T. HUBBARD, Business Manager

Piccolo Rona Ji MC 18 Flute Neyén Romano BK 18 Principal Beatrice Brown BK 19 Catherine Lacy BR 18 Monica Barbosa DC 19 Hayley Kolding SY 17 Seungjung Sohn ES 19 Oboe Mason Ji MC 16* Principal Jake Houston CC 19 English Horn Jake Houston CC 19 Eb Clarinet Andrew Brod BK 17 Clarinet Eugene Kim BK 16* Keith L. Wilson Principal Clarinet Chair † Christopher Zhou PC 19 Alexander Ringlein BR 18 Jacob Neis SY 17 Anson Wang DC 17 Anelisa Fergus DC 19 Alex Brod BK 19 Daniel Hwang TC 16* Ellie Handler ES 18 Betsy Li SY 18

Bassoon Lily Sands TD 18 Principal Francisco Joubert Bernard YSM 17 Alto Saxophone Antonio Medina SM 19 Principal Vincent Oneppo YSM 73 Baritone Saxophone Sara Harris SY 19 Cornet/Trumpet Eli Baum JE 19 Christoph Funke ES 19 Noah Montgomery CC 19 William Thompson GSAS 21 Jacob Zavatone-Veth SM 19 Holt Sakai BR 18 E-Flat Piccolo Trumpet Andrew Stadler YSM 17 ‡ French Horn John McNamara CC 17 Principal Nishwant Swami SM 17 Derek Boyer BR 18 Sida Tang SY 19 Brandon Wanke MC 17 Trombone Luke Benz SM 19 Matthew Kegley PC 19 Eliud Garcia YSM 17

Euphonium Sarah Siegel TC 19 Tuba John Leibensperger YSM 16 Principal Stevie Roets PC 17 String Bass Luke Stence YSM 16 Percussion Rebecca Leibowitz TC 18 Principal Melina Delgado TD 19 Colum O’Connor BR 18 Jonathan Roig ES 18 Charles Romano SM 19 Music Librarian Jacob Neis SY 17 * Seniors Friends of Keith Wilson (Director of Yale Bands from 1946–1973) honored him by endowing the principal clarinet chair in the Yale Concert Band in his name. If you would like information about naming a Yale Concert Band chair, please contact the Yale Bands office. †

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Solo trumpet - Gorb’s Dances from Crete

Bass Clarinet Libby Dimenstein MC 17 YALE CONCERT BAND OFFICERS

President: Catherine Lacy Personnel Manager: Rona Ji General Managers: Melina Delgado, Christopher Zhou Publicity Chair: Beatrice Brown Social Chairs: Hayley Kolding, Antonio Medina